The Rising Sun
by breached
Summary: Sequel to The Hidden Power. Voldermort has returned and their world is slowly starting to crumble. They need a hero to bring them together and fight alongside them, the one they call 'Chosen.' Harry and Draco continue fighting for their families and loved ones even if it feels as if all odds are against them, finding the strength to go on, in each other.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

**SO BEGINS THE LONG AND DAUNTING BUT PLEASURABLE PROCESS OF BEGINNING ANEW. I CHOSE THE TITLE TO BE 'THE RISING SUN' BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THE STORY IS ABOUT A NEW DAWN. I HOPE YOU GUYS WILL BE JUST AS SUPPORTIVE AS YOU WERE FOR THE FIRST BOOK AND THAT YOU STICK AROUND WHILE I POTTER AROUND WITH THE PLOT.**

**I WISH TO THANK ALL THE REVIEWERS FROM MY FIRST STORY: RemmyBlack, Lady Constance Malfoy Hummel, PyroFyre1214, madeyemarauder, patimi, emcee31, Phaedra Coopers, NewTimeFan, CurledRibbons, kisscool, laydjess, Alarith, pikachumomma, Cobra000o, hulagal13, Indigo Lily, spatz, cascol3, RogueNya, Lumcer, Rux, whelp, headsup, Escaped Ninja, Fro Boy, murtaghxblaiseyum, Dark Neko 4000, Kotori-Sensei, tash, AnimeDreama, petit-dragon 50, Saturn-Lily, RebeccaRoy, astrallumiere, lurveandbliss, E the time keeper, Yami-Taichi, Kira the DaySlayer, Dark Dragon 4x4, J.F.C, ryanaven, Gemstones, murtaghxblaiseyum, anon, meglovesklaine, dreamatlin.**

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**ENJOY! (AND AS ALWAYS PLEASE REVIEW!)**

**CHAPTER 1**

"Lily! Lily!"

"James? Is everything alright darling? You look so tired" Lily noted critically after hurrying into the living room and tensing up at the sight of her preoccupied husband.

"I'm fine sweetheart" he assured her quickly with a peck on her cheek "I just wanted to ask you if you could ready any of the spare rooms right now? I know that this is so sudden but Hestia has been injured pretty badly and the blasted Hospital has been flooded with casualties leaving us with no one to attend to her immediately" he sighed, rubbing his eyes sadly.

"Wh…?" Lily said taking a step back with worry written all over her face.

"Attack, in Diagon alley" He volunteered in answer to her question "Blasted new generation death eaters! They've gone out of bounds with this latest attack and have finally been declared dangerous to our society. Augustus the good man has rounded up a couple of his members from the Hit wizard squad and they're going on the offensive as this was the last straw."

"Are you going back to join in the fight?" Lily asked her husband clutching his shoulders worriedly in a tight grasp.

"No, thankfully that parts over" James said while gently extricating himself from her hold "But that doesn't mean the headache's over. I still have to go back to the Ministry and write up the report and have a talk with the other Aurors. We have yet to discuss increasing security around that area."

"Do want to eat something before you go?"

"No, but thank you love. This is just too important for me to hold off any longer."

"Alright, just…just take care of your-self and don't worry about the room, I'll have one ready as soon as I can."

James pulled her into his arms hugging her tightly to his chest "I know that this is overwhelming especially since we've been through it before but we need to be brave for Darren and Harry, they will need us to be strong during this never-ending battle."

"I know" she whispered stepping away from him "I…I'll go and…"

Kissing her on her forehead, James looked deeply into the exquisite green eyes of his wife and said "I'll be home for dinner by the evening I suppose, hopefully by then everything should have settled down. Also don't forget that today's order meeting will held in our home" James grimaced apologetically feeling bad for burdening her with so much work after having unsettled her with bad news.

"Go" Lily said "I'll manage, don't worry" she smiled at him and straightened her back in a show of strength.

Nodding he turned around and went striding out of the house towards the apparition point outside.

oooooooooo

"Harry! Harry! Sweetheart could you come down for a minute?" Lily called out distractedly while making her way to the supply closet.

Harry entered the room giving his mother pause as she watched her tall, strong and rivetingly handsome son enter the room with a flash of pride, his impossibly green eyes like her own, examining her with a hint of worry in them that she so easily recognized since it was a look that nearly everyone wore these days. A look that clearly asked 'So _what fresh hell has descended on our world now?_'

"Hestia Jones was found injured in a scuffle in Diagon Alley" Lily quickly explained to him while she pulled out extra blankets and pillows out of the closet, "they're bringing her in right now to our house since Mungo's is pretty busy and I'm going to need your help to tidy up the room upstairs while I get my medicine kit ready in the meanwhile okay?"

Harry nodded looking calm and steady in the face of his mother's anxiety knowing that she needed his support right then and after briefly hugging her he went upstairs to finish the task.

Voldemort's resurrection had not been as dramatic as he'd expected. There had been no overt signs of a coming war, just daily disturbances and small hints of trouble such as the one today, nothing that spiked real terror in the hearts of people.

The Ministry taking opportunity of the situation had lead people to continue believing that it was not in fact a big deal at all; simply a minor gliche to their well-oiled machine, saying that they had kept the situation well under control and that Voldemort was being held in check by them.

Only the Order members and few of the higher ups in the Ministry were truly aware of the danger. Lily for one had made sure that her sons were well protected at all times and worried constantly about her husband's coming and goings.

It was as Dumbledore had said at the last meeting with the Order; the Dark Lord was probably busy gathering his forces once again, biding his time for a final attack.

The Order of the Phoenix had come together a week after his comeback and had held their meetings alternating between the member's houses once a week so that the enemy would be unable to pin-point their location. The children had of course been excluded but that hadn't stopped them from listening in on the conversations on the sly.

Because the nature of the attacks had been so erratic and varied based more on emotional offsets, they had not yet made much progress in identifying any pattern behind them at all. Still they were not giving up and were constantly preparing themselves to fend off these attacks in any way that they could.

Most of the Order members had regrouped with a moment's notice from Dumbledore. It was as if somewhere deep down they had expected this to happen. The only member missing in action so far was Sirius who caught up in France wrapping up a business proposition so that he could come back and devote his full attention to their cause. In fact it was tonight that he was expected to make and entrance and Harry was excited to finally see his favorite god father.

Having been left alone and bored for most of the holidays since Darren had been holed up with the Weasley's to train alongside Hermione and Ron under Dumbledore's tutelage (after having been given special permission by the Ministry to use Underage Wizardry) he felt the need to experience some change in this dull, monotonous existence.

Even Draco, whom he'd missed talking to or simply hanging around with had been taken away to France by his cautious mother and Narcissa proving herself a resourceful woman had unfortunately and effectively made sure to cut off all contact with the outside world ensuring that Harry would have no company whatsoever.

After cleaning up the room quickly and trying not to dwell on depressing thoughts Harry went back downstairs and saw that they had already brought in the injured woman who was lying immobile on a stretcher while bleeding profusely over their clean floor.

Closing his eyes for a minute and shutting out the gruesome sight, Harry let them pass by and leaned against the wall sighing, knowing that it would be another long and tiring day today.

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"You cannot be serious Sirius!" James ground out angrily "Why are you being so stubborn about this?"

"I'm a goddamn liability James! Maybe you do not see it but trust me, if I screw up like I did the last time then the entire operation could be compromised and I for one do not wish to be held responsible for your lives."

"Sirius, we need you to stand with us as a forerunner in this fight like the last time. We need all the men we can get" James said lowering his voice while trying to sound more reasonable.

"Yes I know, but if I have a flashback while fighting or if I'm incapacitated as is bound to happen in the middle of the battlefield, then we're as good as dead" Sirius said patiently "Right now, all I can do is help around with the strategy or provide the funds necessary. I have a wide network of connections and they will be glad to aid us at my word. We need sponsors to help us fight this war anyway and you are aware of that James. Didn't we learn that the hard way the last time?."

"This is not like you at all Black. You…you were so much stronger before, you hated sitting by the sidelines and doing nothing. In fact you would have been offended if I had tried suggesting it" James said sadly.

"I know" Sirius said quietly "But I need more time to gather my shit together James, please?" he said getting up and walking to the sink to wash his plates up preferring not to use magic as it gave him something to do.

Harry and the others who were listening intently from upstairs looked at each other worriedly and left their posts to gather in Darren's room.

"What's up with Sirius?" Ron asked immediately, looking around at the others in the room.

"He was a prisoner of war the last time" Darren explained nodding to Harry "Dad says that Sirius has never been the same since."

"Poor guy, he was supposed to be a master dueler" Fred shook his head in sympathy "Crikey! War stinks!"

"Yeah it really does" Darren said looking out of the window and getting an eyeful of a ghostly looking Dark mark floating around in the sky a little away from their own house.

"How's Hestia Harry?" Hermione asked suddenly, breaking up the melancholic silence.

"Recovering. Though they did a real number on her. The dark magic they've used on her prevented mum from closing up her wounds for a long time."

"Bastards!" Ginny mumbled, making them all smile a little to hear the youngest swear.

"How's training going you guys?" Fred asked leaning forwards and looking at the golden trio who had finally revealed their secret to their closest friends.

"Yeah think we can get in on the action too?" George asked thumping his brother on the shoulder.

"Actually…" Darren started to say when Hermione cleared her throat pointedly and shook her head.

"Sorry guys can't say much" Darren said apologetically "But we'll definitely think about it yeah?"

"Kids! Come down for supper, everyone's gone home!" Lily's voice floated up, so they all got up and went down to eat, avoiding looking at Sirius or James too much.

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Harry tried to sleep but found himself too wound up and nervous to be able to; he was too caught up in thinking about what Hestia had blurted out after regaining consciousness. The open fear in her eyes as she had spoken about the extraordinary power and evil that the young wizards and witches had wielded. So unnatural in their strength it was if Voldemort was feeding them his own acrane magic.

The marks on her body were strange and undecipherable and it had taken a good deal of his mother's energy and time to help bring around the poor woman.

Slowly making his way down to kitchen for a drink of water Harry was startled when he heard a noise coming from outside the porch; walking towards it stealthily, he peeped outside the door and saw Sirius sitting down on the steps with a cigarette in his hands.

"Going completely muggle on us Sirius?" Harry asked quietly joining his godfather.

"Harry? What are you doing out of bed so late?" Sirius asked looking at the younger man while putting out the cigarette.

"Couldn't sleep, bad day today."

"Yeah, heard about Hestia, god this brings back all the worst memories" Sirius said rubbing his face wearily and looking into out into the night sky that was glowing with a faint eerie greenish light.

"By the way Harry, you're looking good! Almost as tall as you father now eh? I'm sorry we couldn't talk earlier but things were just…"

"I know we…heard" Harry said guiltily.

Sirius looked at him for a minute and let out a bark of laughter "Of course you did! Extendable ears huh?"

"How…how did you know?"

"Let's just say that the twins had a proposition for me and leave it at that shall we" Sirius winked at him and smiled.

"Are you okay?" the younger Potter son asked Sirius carefully, knowing what a touchy subject this was for his god father.

"Yeah I'm okay though I wish your father would relent sometimes you know? I can't…" he said and abruptly turning to face Harry asked "Do you want to know what happened to me the last time?" his eyes filled with a vulnerability that made Harry think about it. "I can see you itching to join in the fight, what with the training and protecting your brother, and I suppose it will even be inevitable whether you want it or not but I think someone should tell you kids what it's really like though. Dueling, fighting with honor, those are just fanciful stories Harry. This war however is bound to get dirty, really filthy, trust me I know. Voldemort and his minions are real scum kiddo, anything that gets in their way, even a defenseless baby will be murdered. You and Darren of all people should know that, considering…"

"Tell me" Harry said impatiently "You're right. I need to hear this, I need to know."

"Well…I had been working as an Auror during the last battle. The Order had just been newly created at that time and the war was gradually escalating to the point where Voldemort had begun attacking us openly" Sirius said with a faraway look in his eyes.

"We were in the Ministry that day when we just received information that Hogsmaede was under attack and so with only a handful of the Aurors available we managed to hold back our enemies when the Dementors came in out of nowhere. We were already too tired by then and with no reinforcements coming in we tried our best and fought madly until only I was left. And then…" Sirius said clenching his fists "they captured me and took me to their hideout."

"It was there that I understood the full extent of their corruption, their evilness. Repeatedly, over and over again they tore into my mind battering all my defenses until I was left begging for death. They stole a few of my memories and replaced them with horrors I couldn't even begin to comprehend. For want of a better word I was mind fucked completely" he said looking apologetically at Harry who continued to look on unwaveringly at him in support.

"Every day they'd stand in front of me and open up my mind making me imagine that they were pulling out my fingers and toes over and over again. Oh it wasn't real of course, but the pain was; the agony was almost too much for me to handle."

"Do you know, what was the only thing that had kept me alive in there Harry?" Sirius said laughing tiredly "You'll never guess!"

"What?" Harry asked shuddering while imagining his godfather in that much pain.

"Severus Snape!"

"Huh?" Harry said flabbergasted.

"Snape, my mortal enemy and your potions master was the one who truly saved me! He was holed up with the other death eaters of course in that hideout, but was masquerading as a spy for our side. He'd sneak in everyday after I had been tortured and he'd tell me that help was coming, that I needed to live for my pregnant Anne, for my godsons and friends."

"He reminded me every day why I fought and why dying was not an option. Stupid bloke even snuck in food all the time, tiny scraps, but enough to sustain myself. And at the end of the week he helped the rescue party save me."

"Wow!" Harry exclaimed, "He's a really good guy isn't he?"

"Yeah he's okay" Sirius said smiling now "I can't even begin to imagine living the double life that he does, it's frightening. But if I tell him that he'd have made a good Gryffindor he'd have had me decapitated!"

"Yeah he would" Harry said chuckling.

"I get flashbacks even now Harry, suddenly, without warning, making me incapable of moving beyond my mind. I lost everything during that war and to tell you honestly, we were fighting a losing battle. The Dark Lord was getting stronger all the time so when we got the news that he'd been killed by Darren; I swear to you, the world erupted all around us! People were crying and laughing, the sky that had gone dark finally cleared up and we were able to see the stars. It was a miracle a real miracle!"

Harry swallowed a lump and felt renewed love for his brother wash over him.

"He saved me too Sirius and my family and friends and that's why I'll do anything now to protect him, anything."

Sirius looked sadly at him and said nothing.

"How's your friend Draco holding up? All this must be freaking him out what with his father…"

Harry blushed red and was unable to say anything.

"What?" Sirius asked him suspiciously "You hiding something kiddo?"

"No-o" Harry mumbled completely thrown off kilter.

"Really?"

"We…I…we're…"

"Best to spit it out Harry" Sirius said amusedly.

"We're dating!" Harry said and hid his face out of acute embarassment.

"Oh my god!" Sirius said laughing, "Does anyone else know?"

"No just you, Darren and Ginny."

Sirius pulled him in for a warm hug and held him tightly "It won't be so easy you know?"

"Yeah" Harry said feeling the sudden urge to cry.

"He's a boy and more importantly he's Malfoy's boy."

"I know. It's tearing him apart" Harry admitted.

Sirius just held him and didn't say anything for a long while, levitating him to his bedroom when he had fallen asleep in his arms and tucked him safely under the covers while ruffling his hair affectionately.

'_You don't like taking the easy way out do you?_' he though exasperatedly, '_always staying strong, no matter what you've heard or seen.'_ Sirius had been told about what had happened in school recently and he'd felt an immense pride and fear for his two warriors.

He knew that this time around he would have to be there for his two godsons, hopefully he would find the courage to do so once again but until he did he would help out in any other way that he could. The very idea of letting them down a second time was unbearable.

Sighing softly, he looked one last time at the beautiful boy who was sleeping so peacefully and silently left the room, gently closing the door behind him as he left.

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	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

**THANK YOU; Kotori-Sensei, Dsmith199318, Ank-sunamuhn80 and tassleburr for continuing to support my work : ) **

**And yes, Kotori-Sensei in my mind I see a sexy Harry too! As for Sirius I want him to find himself again as the story proceeds so hopefully that pans out well for him!**

**Please continue reviewing the story, I'm probably going to keep writing like a crazy person but your comments are invaluable : ) **

**CHEERS! **

**CHAPTER 2**

Harry heard the front door open with a loud bang and knew that Darren had come home. When he went to greet him however he saw the boy looking churlish and completely out of sorts.

"What happened? Did they say something bad?" Harry asked him tentatively, wondering what had put his usually genial brother in such a foul mood. Darren had been summoned to the Ministry by Fudge himself 'To discuss a matter of supreme importance with him' as the Minister had pompously declared in the letter that they had received a week ago.

"Oh the man had plenty to say" Darren snapped at him "he talked for a long time about duty and responsibility to the Wizarding world and about how I should grow a pair and start giving hope to the poor people by doing 'what's right', according to him of course."

"And what's that?"

"You know, become his poster child, smear my face over his campaigns, publicly declare my undying love for him, exactly what we were expecting" Darren said with a feral grin.

"So how did you dodge the old codger then?" Harry asked curiously.

Laughing now Darren said "Dumbledore. Dumbledore cut him to the quick and said that that was the stupidest idea he'd ever heard. That, as it were, Voldemort wanted me dead and by advertising my location and myself in general, it'd look like I was issuing him a challenge, a challenge I couldn't cope with right now, what with my limited knowledge and skills."

Harry looked skeptically at him and said "And he just accepted that?"

"Nope, idiot that he is, he started mumbling about sacrifice and 'the greater good'" Darren gleefully said, smiling and rubbing his hands "Boy did Dumbledore massacre him! He just looked at him like he was this tiny bug and got up after calling him an imbecile in front of everyone present! He was the color of an egg-plant by the time we were done with him" Darren chuckled darkly.

"Old wanker!"

"Stupid Sod!"

"Git!" They said in unison and collapsed laughing on the rug, clutching at each other while feeling thankful that it would now be awhile before Fudge the twit tried recruiting Darren again.

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"Boys stop dithering about and get in, we have a long drive ahead of us" Lily said crisply while looking around carefully for any suspicious activity.

Today they were going to meet their aunt Petunia's family of whom they had heard plenty about but had never actually seen. They had decided to make it an outing of sorts and had borrowed Mr. Weasley's muggle contraption that he fondly called a Ford Anglia.

After having placed every single protection charm known to wizard kind on it, James and Lily had declared it safe enough for their two boys to tag along. James having already used a car at work was quite at ease with the machine and drove them without a hitch to the mysterious Privet Drive where their cousin resided.

The journey as their mother had promised was long and tedious but having been cooped up at home for so long the boys did not complain much. On reaching their destination they got out of the car and stared nonplussed at the intensely neat row of houses in front of them, even the grass on every single lawn was mowed to exactly the same height!

"Certainly feels like our family" Harry muttered shooting his mother a sly grin.

"Yeah they make you seem like a slob mum!" Darren said sniggering away happily.

"Oh can it you two" Lily smiled benignly at them and then wacked them on their heads "behave or Petunia will have you forcibly removed" she warned them complacently and walked ahead to knock on the door leaving the rest of her family lingering behind.

'You don't look so good dad" Harry said noting that his father looked terribly uncomfortable.

"Yes, well, what can I say son, my sister in law and her husband can be quite…interesting" he said clearing his throat and looking away.

The front door opened and they all saw an extremely thin, horsey looking woman who took one look at Lily and her family and started to hiss liked like a snake with a bad disposition "What are you doing here Lily?" she asked looking around surreptitiously "And bringing your entire family? Vernon is going to have a seizure!"

Lily looked calmly at her sister and said "Well nice to see you to Petunia. How's the family doing and all that rot?"

"Go home Lily, I've told you before that you are not welcome at my house. As far as I'm concerned you and your kind are an aberration in our world. I will not have my Duddykins come within an inch of your…madness!"

"The word dearest sister; is magic, and do not worry this is no mere social call, quite the opposite actually. I came to speak to you about a grave matter that concerns both our families."

Petunia looked like she had died a little on hearing the word magic and was swallowing noisily as she assessed her sister's words looking disbelievingly at her.

"Stop with the histrionics Petunia and let us in already. We are not safe standing outside, so exposed to our enemies if you don't move I'll have James do something to alert all your neighbors of our presence" she threatened.

Screeching in protestation, Petunia opened her door and allowed them to enter her house all the while glaring ferociously at them.

"The word you were looking for dad was repugnant!" Harry whispered as he entered the house.

"More like repulsive" Darren joined in grinning widely at his brother and they were off happily giggling away despite the situation, forgetting all about their revolting relatives.

On entering the house they immediately laid eyes on two very large men standing in the living room shooting hostile looks their way, standing as if poised for an attack.

One was very obviously their uncle Vernon whose walrus mustache had been a dead giveaway as it had been discussed at great length by Sirius in open admiration and he was holding what appeared to be long stick in his hands which he was pointing directly at them!

Standing beside him was a boy about their age, quavering like a great big gob of jelly, and judging by his looks was definitely the offspring of their uncle, ah, so that had to be dearest Duddykins!

"Oh put down the riffle" Lily said disdainfully "you know that it cannot harm us Vernon" she said but to no avail.

"What are they doing in my house Petunia" the man said as great amounts of spittle flew out of his mouth.

"Lily said she had something important to tell us Vernon, believe me, I would not have let them into our house otherwise" she sniffed and turned up her pointy nose at them.

"Right" Lily said impatiently, sitting down and making herself quite at home followed by James who copied her but more carefully.

"Let's get to the point then shall we?" She said looking at her sister's incongruous family with disdain tired of their antics.

"Do you remember what I told you about a man named Voldemort?"

"Yes" Petunia said slowly "You said that the man was quite the villain and that he was out to destroy the world in general, all very dramatic I should say and oh you also said that he was dead."

"Well he's not" Lily said bluntly "not anymore anyway!"

Petunia looked at her like she had sprouted another head and she then sat down heavily on the nearest armchair "What do you mean 'not anymore'? He…he came back to life?" she asked plainly horror-struck while Vernon sputtered behind her and Dudley whimpered in a small voice.

"Yes, nobody knows how, but we know that he's back and that he's itching for another fight and like last time I'm pretty sure he'll be out for non-magic blood as well."

"Wh…what should we do?" Petunia whispered looking at her sister with new-found fear.

"Go away someplace safe for a while and come back when it's over" Lily said immediately before falling silent.

"You said what you had to say now leave" Vernon snarled at her after listening "I knew your kind was no good before and this just proves it, diabolic wi..wi..wizards indeed!" he spat out.

"Heed my advice sister, you know that I have no cause to lie, take your family elsewhere for a short while and keep them safe. Surely it is not so difficult."

Petunia glowered at her and said angrily "Easy for you to say witch, it's not your life that has just been uprooted!"

"You know nothing about me or my life sister. I did this merely out of the last remainings of love that I could salvage for you but if you won't listen I cannot help you ant longer" Lily said running out of patience and getting up with sigh of defeat.

"We'll help ourselves out, come boys" she said and led the way out followed closely by her bemused family.

"Do you think they'll do as you asked?" James asked quietly after a while.

"Oh yes, Petunia is infuriating but she's not entirely stupid. They will go."

"Nice family mum" Darren declared.

"Yeah real…um…friendly"

"Shut it you two!" Lily said and smiled, cheered at the sight of her...somewhat normal family.

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The fifteenth birthday of the Potter twins was celebrated in style. All of the Order members were invited, along with the Weasley's and Hermione. The food was out of the world and for a few moments everyone were able to squelch all thoughts about war and Dark Lords and just have fun.

After having been given a pile of gifts, Dumbledore called out Darren's and Hermione's names and told them that they'd been selected to become Gryffindor's newest Prefects! Beaming at each other they accepted their badges amidst all the cheering and shouting quite happily.

Everything was going smoothly when Harry suddenly found himself standing alone with Dumbledore who started to usher him into the study room without any explanation.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened the last year Harry, when Voldemort came back to life. Snape told me about your wand and of your escape" he said eyeing the boy carefully "He said it was like nothing he had ever seen! Quite different from what you yourself had said."

Harry mentally cursed himself for having not stopped his teacher in time and hiding his grimace he said trying to sound unaffected that he had not been very conscious at that time and had not understand how it had happened and that he still thought that it was accidental magic.

"So you are sticking to that story, are you sure about that Harry?"

"Quite sure" Harry said trying quell his anger.

"Then you would not mind it very much if I asked you to join Darren and the others for training would you?"

"I'll think about Sir" Harry said innocently "You know how I hate fighting!" This he said with a perfectly straight face.

"Of course my boy, the decision is entirely yours; just know that Voldemort will now be after you as well now considering your er...miraculous escape."

"I suppose" Harry said and fell silent preferring to simply look dumbly at his professor.

"Very well come to me when you have made up your mind alright?"

"Yes Sir, I will" he acknowledged, feeling tired and irritable.

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After the party was over Harry changed into his pajamas and flopped down tiredly on his bed sighing in frustration, avoiding the Headmaster from now on was going to be next to impossible.

Closing his eyes and trying to sleep Harry suddenly heard someone calling out his name in the dark. Sitting up abruptly he followed the voice and to his bewilderment heard it coming from within his trunk!

Peering inside he rummaged about in the mess and spotted the source immediately. Pulling out the two way mirror he spoke into it and saw it spark to life.

"Harry?"

"Dray? Oh wow is that you?"

"Harry! Hey, I wanted to say Happy Birthday so I called" Draco's muffled voice said as his face came into focus.

"Thanks" Harry beamed "Finally, your mum let you!"

"Actually I made a house elf crack a few wards, the little buggers are really quite powerful!"

Harry laughed happily and then they proceeded to talk a little about each other's holidays after a while falling silent and just looking at each other through the mirror.

"You…you look nice Harry" Draco said turning red in the face making Harry blush as well.

"Well don't ever expect me to tell you that Dray, you'd probably bloat to the size of my aunt Marge if i said anything" Harry grinned trying to dispel the sudden shyness that had come over him.

"Hey!" Draco exclaimed and then sniffing superciliously he said "I Suppose you're right! I mean, everyone knows that I am the most perfect specimen of our kind" he said and smiled.

"Yeah yeah, whatever makes you happy" Harry said flippantly and looking away he said softly "I…I missed you, you bloody narcissist!"

"Yeah I missed you too" Draco said quietly "Mum's become real twitchy nowadays so she's not exactly pleasant to hang out with anymore" he sighed looking sad.

"Dray, you know she has every right to be and I'm kind of glad that she's doing everything to protect you"

"Traitor!"

"So sue me!"

"I will!"

"I can't wait to see you at Hogwarts" Harry said feeling lonely again and then as he suddenly thought of something he felt a tiny bit of dread creep into him "That is if you're coming?"

"Of course I am! Wild horses wouldn't keep me away Harry! I've been made prefect and all" he said proudly "if I don't exploit other people with my new found powers I 'd never be able to forgive myself!"

"Moron!" Harry said affectionately.

"Um…I have to go Harry the house-elf looks like she's about to die, so I'll see you on the train yeah?"

"DRACO!"

"Pip Pip Potter!"

"House-elf killer!"

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	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

**I'VE MADE SOME DELIBERATE CHANGES TO DOLORES UMBRIDGE BUT FEAR NOT, HER UGLY PERSONALITY WILL SHOW UP LATER ON.**

**PLEASE REVIEW THE STORY GUYS, THANK YOU : )**

**CHAPTER 3**

"Blimey Fred!" George grumbled pushing him to the corner "you're bum seems to have gotten bigger during the hols!"

"Is the pot calling the kettle fat?" Fred asked, grinning at him. "Methinks it's actually our little Ronnikens who is to blame though. He's been at mum's kidney pie and steak like there's no tomorrow, the pig!"

"Pick on a growing boy why don't you" Ron said flipping them off with a rude gesture.

"Oh no George, Ron did something bad!" Fred said, shaking his head in mock sorrow.

"And mum wasn't even here to stop him" George intoned equally gravely.

"Then it's our duty as moral citizens..."

"Yes I think so too brother…"

And they leaped on him giving him a noogie and causing general mayhem when Harry who was sitting next to Fred started yelling "Get off Fred! Ginny and Darren are getting squished you great big lug!"

"Boys, boys, sit down! Driving is hard as it is without you flailing about like wizards being treated for spell damage at Mungo's" Mr. Weasley admonished them from the drivers seat. He was the current designated driver for the Weasley and Potter gang to the King's Cross station that day.

They were all sitting cramped up in Mr Weasley's car getting more and more irritable with each other in the confined space of the enhanced Ford Anglia. Six kids, who had insisted that they were all to be seated at the back while James Potter and Arthur Weasley sat alone and very comfortable up in the front. A decision that they were all feeling very sorely about by then.

"We told you guys to sit with us" James said laughing "but you insisted. Still you're welcome to move up front if you want?"

"I think I'll come there Dad" Darren said mutinously eyeing Fred while nursing his toe that had been stepped on during the scuffle.

"Okay just wait two minutes for Arthur to pull up and then you can join me okay?" James said looking around for a parking sign when a tiny piece of paper suddenly materialized in his hands. Looking down at it curiously his face tightened as he read the message and he crushed the little slip into a small ball angrily.

"The new generation Death Eaters are following our car Arthur, they're just one lane away from us!" He said softly exchanging grim looks with Mr. Weasley who immediately looked into the rear view mirror for any sign of the enemy when he saw it.

Nearly four or five cars away, three black, humongous Hummers came speeding towards them squeezing past the cars that lay between them and the Ford, rapidly gaining ground on them.

"They're here James!" Mr Weasley whispered, glancing worriedly at the kids who had finally gotten quiet, pressing his foot to the gas pedal frantically.

"What about flying Arthur? They wouldn't have anticipated that" James asked him eagerly.

"Too many people in the car" Mr. Weasley responded nervously "I don't think the car would be able to handle the weight."

"What about the invisibility booster then?"

"Yeah, I've already activated it" Arthur said driving furiously "it'll take some time to work though."

"Right then" James said stoically "I'll help hold them off in the meantime" and he stuck his wand out of the window and started to throw spells rapidly at the miscreants but learned that it was difficult to do so without hitting any of the other cars in between.

"They're almost on top of us" Mr. Weasley said alarmed and then yelled "Duck!" to the children behind him just as the back glass shattered to pieces.

"Keep driving dad we're safe" Fred yelled brushing off the debris and digging into his backpack pulling out several round objects and giving them to the others before loping one out of the broken glass right at the oncoming Hummers.

It exploded with a loud bang enveloping the death eater's vehicle in a thick grey cloud of smoke giving a them chance to get further away from their enemies. Closing up the glass with a well placed '_Reparo_' James turned to Fred and shot him a big grin mouthing a thanks.

"They're coming back dad" Ron said warily while looking keenly through the haze behind them and spotting the three monstrous cars exit the fog.

Opening the window briefly Darren and George threw out their missiles and watched as they exploded forcing the cars to swerve away at the noise, "Dung bombs Fred, really? Darren said looking at him laughing despite the situation.

"Hey we tweaked them a bit, made them into noisy dung bombs and it totally worked. Scared the crap out of them didn't it?"

"Yeah it did and you scared the crap out of that nice lady standing on the pavement too!"

They all looked out of the window and saw a woman dressed to the hilt furiously waving a handkerchief in her face looking a bit green in the gills and nauseated, swooning right in the middle of the pavement after it seemed that she could hold her breath no longer.

Poor Mr. Weasley who was sweating bullets as he maneuvered the car got frustrated when he saw that the enemy had regrouped and he muttered angrily under his breath, "persistent little buggers aren't they?" as he revved up the engine even more.

"This calls for desperate measures George" Fred said looking meaningfully at his brother.

"No way!"

"Yes!"

But it's our prototype!"

"And this is war" Fred said grimly.

"Fine, but I get to do the honors!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Reaching into his backpack again Fred withdrew a compact square object and handed it to George gingerly.

"On the count of three?"

George nodded solemnly.

"One…two…three!"

George threw the box-like thing out of the window and the others watched as it opened up midway and spill its contents on the road. Feeling slightly cheated that nothing amazing happened, the others turned around to eye the twins confusedly.

"It's a Dud!" Ron said smirking at them.

"You keep watching little bro" Fred said holding his breath in anticipation and when they turned back they were shocked to find that the road had started to melt, forming a huge, gooey pond that was steadily growing bigger and bigger in size. "Wow!" Ginny said thumping George on his back laughing with glee.

And then as if in slow motion they saw two of the giant Hummers head straight into the goop and stop moving abruptly with their back ends sticking up and the wheels turning valiantly until it sank rapidly into the swampy mess right in the middle of the road!

"And that, my friends is our latest creation that we call the 'Portable swamp'!" George said and bowed dramatically.

"Amazing!" Arthur said pride coloring his voice, smiling wonder-struck at their beaming faces through the rear view mirror.

"There's one more left Arthur" James warned "and this ones gaining on us rather quickly!"

Harry and Ginny threw their bombs out but as if they were expecting it this time, the Death eaters threw up a shield and glided right past them and were finally almost neck to neck with the Ford on Harry's side of the car!

Looking up, Harry saw the face of a fairly young man who was all tattooed and pierced laughing savagely at him with his wand raised, pointing right at Harry.

Harry smirked at him and pressing his hand to the car he whispered '_Propero'_ watching smugly as the thug's face fell when the Ford suddenly jerked under him and with a burst of speed shot off allowing them to sail past their assailants.

"Wow Dad that was awesome! A power booster!" Fred howled with glee joined by the others sitting beside him.

"Yeah dad that was the BEST!"

"Totally rad Mr. Weasley!"

"Go dad!"

"Nice one Arthur!" James said thumping him on his back.

"But It…it wasn't me!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed looking bewildered at car's controls "I specifically didn't amp the car's speed because I was afraid that if Fred or George used it they would get into an accident!"

"Must be the car itself then" Ron said reverently patting the door lovingly.

Ginny who had been literally thrown on Harry by the inertia looked up into his eyes to apologize when she reared her head back in surprise. Harry's eyes were glowing! Twinkling with millions of tiny little stars and she suddenly felt herself become wrapped up in a haze of power so great that all she could do was blink and swallow until the feeling passed as quickly as it had come and she found herself staring at a quizzical Harry.

"The invisibilty booster is working!" Mr. Weasley cut in her thoughts loudly, distracting her suddenly as every one around her started cheering boisterously, thankful that they were finally completely safe from those goons.

0000000000000000000

"What the hell was that Harry?" Ginny asked him impatiently, peering into his eyes like she was searching for something in them.

They had reached the station in one piece and were standing on the platform nine and three quarters a little away from the others after unloading their luggage into the waiting train.

"Gin, what's up?" Harry asked her feeling puzzled "What're you talking about?"

"You're….you're eyes Harry, they…they were…"

"You're standing too close to her!" somebody suddenly growled in Harry's ear and he felt a shudder pass through him as he involuntarily leaned against the warm body behind his own noting Ginny's eyes widen.

"Last compartment" Draco whispered into his ear and walked away making Harry stumble at the sudden loss of contact.

"Oh my god, Draco's looks better every single time" Ginny giggled.

"Yeah" Harry breathed as he watched the lean, tall boy weave through the crowds gracefully until his sun kissed hair disappeared into the train.

"You've got it bad Harry" Ginny said sagely and they smiled at each other knowingly.

"Dad's calling us" Harry said looking over her shoulder spotting his dad waving them over.

After receiving a lecture on safety they got on the train and watched as their parents grew smaller and smaller as the train pulled away from the station.

"Right, Prefect duty" Darren said grabbing Hermione's hand and walking away leaving the others to find their compartment on their own.

"I'm going to sit with Dray" Harry whispered in Ginny's ear and left quickly almost sprinting to the last compartment but when he opened the door however he saw with some disappointment that it was empty but for Draco's baggage and a note on the seat.

Opening the note Harry read 'Gone for prefect duty" and closed it with a sigh. Feeling tired after having used so much of energy in the car, Harry lay down on the seat and felt his eyes close as sleep dragged him under.

On waking up Harry saw Draco's face looming above his own and he realized with a start that his head was resting comfortably on Draco's lap who appeared to be engrossed in a book.

"Hey" he said softly so as not to startle Draco, watching as the grey eyes turned to focus on his face as Draco put the book down beside them.

"Hey yourself" Draco said reaching out and pushing a few strands of his hair away from his forehead before leaning over him slowly and pressing his lips against Harry's sliding his tongue out to graze Harry's lips with it, coaxing them to open up.

Slipping into his mouth he touched Harry's tongue with his own moaning softly and Harry reaching blindly for his head, pulled him closer, deepening the kiss until everything around them became white noise, until they were both gasping for breath and until Draco did it again leaving Harry with pink swollen lips at the end of it.

"You're never going to France again" Harry declared tucking Draco's hair behind his ear still happily keeping his head in Draco's lap "At least not when I'm not with you."

"Deal" Draco said and smiled at him until he became serious again,"I heard about the car chase" Draco said and looked out of the window with a tiny hint of guilt in his face, "Darren told me about it just now when we were on duty, you guys must be pretty shaken up."

"Nah! Fred and George really saved our arses in there!" Harry said grinning while remembering the dung bombs and then catching the guilt on Draco's face he said sharply, incredulously, "Are you feeling guilty?"

"Yes" Draco said honestly and swallowed keeping his gaze away from Harry.

"You are not your father you nitwit and you will never be him!" Harry said forcing him to look back down at him.

"But..."

"Dray."

"Have you done anything evil of late, like randomly killing people or destroying lives? No, you have not! You don't even have the inclination for it Dray!"

"I saw Voldemort, I saw Bellatrix and you know what? There is nothing in them, they're empty, soul-less. Even your father is more human than them and you, you're a good person, a fricking angel in comparison and right now I really want to kick your dad's arse for his shitty choices."

Draco laughed passing a hand through Harry's hair gently "Nitwit huh?"

"Big one!"

"Thanks."

"Did you do anything in the car to help out?" Draco asked knowing the answer before he said it.

"I…I used a tiny bit of wandless magic" Harry acquiesced and turned his head into Draco's stomach breathing in his wonderful scent.

"Umm…I wouldn't ad-advise you to do that Harry" Draco said turning red and shifting away slightly.

"What? Oh!" Harry chuckled turning his head back and feeling his own ears burn.

"So...umm how were the holidays?" Draco asked him after a while, "what's the Order been up to?"

Glad for any excuse to get past the awkwardness, Harry started to talk enthusiastically about all that the Order had accomplished and about what Voldemort was up to gradually whiling away time by simply talking, eating or napping until they reached Hogwarts when Harry remembering something turned to Draco while he was putting on his robes and said "This is the last year the animagus potion will last Dray, we need to work on it during school while it's still good."

"Oh yeah I completely forgot" Draco agreed, smoothing down his ruffled hair back into place "let's settle in first and then I'll figure out how to work around my prefect timetable so we can get cracking."

Harry nodded and hugged him once before heading out the door to join the others while Draco went to round up the first years.

Oooooooooooooooo

Supper at Hogwarts was just as splendid as it had always been the only difference being that Moody was no longer with them having resigned his DADA position after last year's fiasco. In his place a very dumpy and uninteresting woman sat who was carefully eating her food and talking to Professor McGonagall placidly.

After the plates had been cleared away the Headmaster called her up to stand with him and introduced her as Professor Dolores Umbridge and ex-auror, now as their new DADA mentor.

"They get older and older every time don't they?" Cho whispered in Harry's ear as they watched her addressing them all in a quiet, unassuming voice.

The woman seemed very sedate and normal, a far cry from Moody's own dramatic appearance. Hopefully this year they would have regular classes and completely finish of the year with the same teacher, Harry had his fingers crossed.

Everyone in the great hall looked the same, no one was acting any differently from last year, there were no outward signs of panic at all and Harry thought that maybe the concept of being at war hadn't yet sunk into their minds, or maybe they simply chose not to believe. Apart from having a few girls ogling openly at him, Harry was grateful to find that he hadn't yet been approached by anyone at all about last year.

Getting up to leave, he looked at Draco who was to take the first years to their dorm and winked surreptitiously at him before walking back to his own house dragging a rather reluctant Cho with him who still looked a little dazed after talking to Cedric who had been appointed as their new Head boy.

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	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

**I can't tell how glad I am to see some of the readers of the Hidden Power return to read this story, it makes writing so much happier : )**

**Thank you,** **Kotori-Sensei, Dsmith199318, Ank-sunamuhn80, tassleburr, 456snarky, cucumbermonster4, DarkNeko4000, Nellie4911, PixaPickle, PuzzledNikki, Qtelatino 1, sev-han, Shaken250, tesetilaro, thetownguy, Kira the DaySlayer.**

**PLEASE CONTINUE REVIEWING THE STORY AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. ANYTHING AT ALL, THE GOOD, BAD OR THE UGLY, I WILL FEED OFF THEM QUITE HAPPILY I ASSURE YOU!**

**CHAPTER 4**

"Bring me Wormtail my pet" Voldemort hissed at the massive snake that was coiling around with abandon at his feet, watching the creature rear her hood in obedience and hiss back at her master before slithering away from him. Then he slowly turned back his attention towards his hands and stared thoughtfully them, his red eyes gleaming with a deadly spark of interest.

"Come, Wormtail. Come kneel before your master" Voldemort said impatiently, gesturing to the frightened man at the door who came hurriedly up to him before falling ungracefully to his knees.

"Look at my hand, Wormtail. Come closer and look at my hand, then tell me what you see?" The Dark lord said in his soft, frosty voice.

Peter crawled on his knees to his master and then peered closely at his Lords fingers breathing heavily on them in fear.

"It…it's starting to change color m…my Lord" the tiny rat faced man whispered while struggling to speak. "It…it ha…has turned black my Lord!" he said and trembled.

"Yes, yes it has Wormtail" Voldemort agreed nonchalantly and before his minion could retreat he caught him by his wrist and roughly drew the whimpering man close to his face saying "Do you know why its happening though? Do you why your master's hands are dying Wormtail?"

"I…I…don't know m…my Lord!" Wormtail said with his teeth chattering.

"Then I shall tell you, you miserable rat bastard" Voldemort said in contempt, throwing away the man's wrist with great force and leaning back on his throne.

"Ever since my resurrection, my body has been at war with itself. The blood that you gave me from the Potter boy has been very gradually destroying my own! Every night before I sleep I can hear it, I can hear that damned song ringing in my ears. What song you ask?" Voldemort sneered before snarling "The bloody song of the phoenix, echoing from his blood within my veins" he spat viciously.

"It's a disgustingly pure song Wormtail, the likes of which you and I would die upon hearing" Voldemort said raising his wand and throwing Peter against the wall with a bang, holding him up against it with an invisible force while he stood up him-self to pace before the man who had urinated in his pants in fear.

"Oh I am strong enough now to stop the decaying anytime I want" Voldemort said in a dismissive voice. "A simple blood purifying charm would get rid of the boy's blood. But as you know very well, I am a man who is greatly interested in power, especially the kind that involves blood so I want to carry out a little experiment, to see how destructive the child's blood really is, and how far I can go before I need to help myself."

"The mere brother of Darren Potter is so overwhelmingly strong Wormtail and I want to know how, I need answers! I'm starting feel strangely excited now, they will both make an interesting game before I kill them off this time!"

Coming to stand before Wormatail who was now slightly blue in the face and gasping for breath he said "I want you Wormtail, to bring me Darren Potter or his brother alive preferably and I want you to do it soon" Voldemort threatened, releasing the stranglehold he'd had on his servant and letting him slide down to the floor in a defeated, pathetic lump.

"And most of all" he said turning away from the sad heap "I want to know why I suffer from Harry Potter's blood when it is his brother who is the famed boy who lived!" the Dark Lord whispered as he went back to sit down on his throne.

Oooooooooooooooooo

"WHAT?" Fred said doubling over in laughter.

"It's true" Harry gleefully replied. "The most shocking news in the History of Hogwarts, Hermione Granger slept through today's DADA class!"

"I want to shake Umbridge's hand" George said reverently "and then ask her how she did it!"

"Trust me you don't" Harry said smiling at him, "the woman is like a strong sedative, she's so boring she puts Professor Binns to shame!"

"Hermione is never going to live this one down is she?"

"Nope. I just hope though, that this being the year of our owls I can stay awake for at least one class, I mean I need to pass them at least" Harry said shaking his head.

"Ah owls, shmowls" Fred said callously, "George and I just scraped through and trust me it was enough for the two of us. What do you want to do after school anyway?"

"Dunno, haven't really thought that far" Harry said grinning while remembering Mrs. Weasley's red and angry face after having had a thorough go at her sons during the holidays.

"See, you need to…Oh hey you guys" Fred said abruptly, breaking off from his monologue on seeing Cedric, Cho and Draco walk into the room. They had been sitting in the common room outside the library whiling away time before the supper bell simply waiting for the others to come back from the council meeting.

"Do you mind if I sit with you guys?" Draco asked them quietly before sitting beside Harry.

"Shut up Malfoy!" Fred said firmly "Do we look like Ron? Wait, don't answer that" he said grinning.

"Yeah it's not like we're in any position to judge people" George said smiling, while Cho and Cedric nodded.

"How did the meeting go anyway you guys?" Harry asked shifting closer to Draco without thinking.

"Sucked, Dumbledore is secretly a dictator and I'm going to fail my owls" Draco groaned.

"Yeah he's kind of going overboard with our duties this time" Cho agreed while sitting happily on Cedric's lap.

"He wants us to patrol the corridors every night with the teachers on a rotational basis!"

"Haha, feels good to be the irresponsible ones for once huh?" Fred said thumping Harry on the back.

"Yeah damn good!" Harry laughed, avoiding looking at Draco's plaintive glare.

George suddenly looked from Harry to Draco with narrowed eyes nodding to himself as if confirming some suspicion and then he smiled knowingly at them and winked.

"What?" Draco asked immediately on the defensive.

"Nothing…yet" George said cryptically "Need more time for observation and then I'll tell you" he said annoyingly, turning away from them to listen to Cedric instead who was talking about his new room very happily and animatedly.

They laughed and joked around lots until the supper bell went off and were walking back to the great hall when Draco pulled Harry aside asking him if they could talk privately. Nodding Harry followed him to the empty room that they had used on so many occasions before, turning around to look inquisitively at him once they had close the door.

"I need two weeks at least to sort out the schedule before we can begin working on the Animagus thing" Draco said anxiously, standing almost nose to nose with Harry "Is that okay?"

"That really sucks" Harry swallowed unable to look away from Draco's lips that were so close "I won't be able to see much of you anymore."

"Actually, since all Slytherin prefects are given their own rooms a little away from the others, I thought you could sneak in sometimes more easily than before and maybe we could…"

"What! How unfair is that?" Harry said chuckling, "The Slytherins really do get to live in style don't they?"

"Yup, always have been the more privileged ones" Draco said waggling his eyebrows.

Harry harrumphed and leaned in to kiss him hard on his lips till Draco, out of breath, pulled away and started to trail softer kisses down the side of his throat.

"We…have…supper!" Harry breathed out, not moving an inch, totally reveling under the caress.

Draco un-tucked Harry's shirt from his pants and slipping his hands under it to rest them over his warm back, holding him as close as he could, appreciating the smoothness and clean lines of his body until he felt him tremble with want.

"You think George knows about us?" Draco asked, resting his forehead on Harry's shoulder continuing to touch him under his shirt.

"Maybe" Harry said quietly "But I don't care and frankly I don't think they do either. The twins kind of like you Dray, they're still thankful to you for saving Ginny."

"Good" Draco sighed, rubbing his nose against Harry's warm neck.

"If my father finds out about us though, I think he'll go crazy. As it is I've been having this one crazy dream over and over again these days, there I am standing on this cliff with my father and we're all alone in the world, fighting madly with each other. Sometimes I win and he falls down into nothingness and sometimes it's me doing the losing. I'm scared that it's some kind of warning, a...a portent. I really don't want to end up having to fight him like that, it…it feels so wrong."

"No one will tell him Dray" Harry assured him, pressing himself closer while trying to stop envisioning Draco falling down a cliff "We'll be careful, really careful."

"I know" Draco whispered, kissing him once before reluctantly letting him go.

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	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

**Thank you for appreciating the story so far:** **Kotori-Sensei, Dsmith199318, Ank-sunamuhn80, tassleburr, 456snarky, cucumbermonster4, DarkNeko4000, Nellie4911, PixaPickle, PuzzledNikki, Qtelatino 1, sev-han, Shaken250, tesetilaro, thetownguy, Kira the DaySlayer, Twinheart, LadySarah14, variante, Platinum Hearts, KDLizzy's Gay Cookies, Aanchal, James237, Dominygringa, stephanialilly, elfdemon05, Marinelife37, TrishG, Meitantei-k, Dinna22, Panthers of darkness16,**

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**CHAPTER 5**

Harry was spiraling out control in midair, struggling to remain on his broom as a sharp pain lanced through his side. "Harry!" Cho cried out from somewhere beside him "Slow down and pull the broom up" she screamed.

Harry gritted his teeth and fought through the pain just barely managing to halt his fall abruptly.

"Shit! You okay?" Cho asked him worriedly.

"Taking a break" Harry replied tiredly, descending down to the stands to sit next to Luna who had come to watch Ravenclaw's quidditch practice in a show of solidarity, happily engrossed in making a new necklace from chess pieces of different shapes and textures.

"What happened up there?" Luna asked him while mercilessly drilling a hole into a wriggling pawn's head and stringing him up with the rest of his now bitterly resigned companions.

"It's my wand" Harry said winced, rubbing his tender side gingerly. "It's been shooting off random sparks for sometime now. In fact I think this is the fourth time it's happened since last year's debacle" he bit out frustrated.

"Something happened to you last year didn't it" Luna said frankly, reading between the lines as usual, "Something you've decided not to tell us about."

Harry smiled at her accurate presumptions but clamped up tightly. He'd already told her more than he should have, 'Must be the pain that's talking' he though ruefully.

"When did it happen last" Luna asked him, deliberately changing the subject after detecting his discomfort.

"Umbridge's class last week" Harry said grinning at the recollection. "Remember when everyone was talking about Seamus's scandalous revelation about Lavender's cheeks being puffeskein soft when he'd woken up during class?"

"Most assuredly I do" Luna said smiling.

"He woke because of me" Harry laughed "coz I yelled bloody murder when my wand stung me again."

They looked at each other smirking; the poor Irish boy had been given twenty pink puffskeins on that day, courtesy of Fred and George of course, who had also followed him around wearing bright pink wigs while making kissy noises at him.

Picking up a book that Luna had kept beside her on the bench Harry opened it to see lots of weird doodles and a couple of caricatures when he came across a pretty accurate picture of Dolores Umbridge.

"Nice picture" he commented, admiring the correctness of it as Luna leaned over his shoulder trying to see what Harry was talking about.

"It's what the muggle's call an animorph" she explained. "If you flip through the next few pages really quickly you'll see the picture move!"

"But there's no magic!" Harry said skeptically, flipping through the pages anyway and laughing with delight when he saw Umbridge's face go from looking uninteresting to monstrous, replete with blood dripping out of her mouth.

"Wow you just made the most insipid person in the universe look fascinating" he marveled.

"She's maleficent Harry; a really cruel witch hidden beneath a thin veneer of grand motherliness" Luna said firmly, her wide eyes staring unblinkingly him.

Trying to cover up a disbelieving snort with a cough, Harry simply shrugged off Luna's insinuations and was about to change the topic when he heard someone call out his name frantically.

Looking around he saw Ginny and Neville come running towards him completely out of breath "Harry," Ginny panted "Darren told me to get you immediately, there has been another attack" she said looking pale "this time very close to Godric's Hollow."

Getting up silently, Harry gestured them to lead the way feeling completely hollow on the inside.

Walking into Dumbledore's office with them he saw all the council members standing around looking at something with tense expressions. Following their gaze Harry saw Darren kneeling on the floor in front of the fire place calling out for their mom and dad frantically.

Kneeling next to his brother, Harry laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and asked him to try Sirius's home instead. Darren looking hopefully at him nodded and threw more green powder into the fire, this time calling out for Black's home.

"Darren sweety is that you?" They heard their mother's voice call out and saw her head appear in the flames as a collective sigh of relief went through the room.

"Mum, are you and dad…" Darren whispered moving closer to hearth.

"We're fine Darren" Lily said "I was actually standing pretty close to the explosion at the time but I've managed to escape with only a couple of scratches here and there. Dad luckily was at work so he's fine too. If Albus is there with you just inform him that the reported numbers of people injured were at fifteen with two dead the last time we checked" she said sorrowfully.

"Don't worry about us love; we're staying at Sirius's house for now and its like a fortress so we're perfectly safe. Dad will also be joining us from the Ministry in a few minutes anyway so Harry you too don't be scared okay? We'll call again tomorrow when it's settled down here a bit I promise."

Harry nodded. swallowing a lump and not trusting him-self to speak. He and Darren stood up and hugged each other after the connection had been severed off feeling silently grateful that their parents were fine but mourning for those people who were less fortunate.

Stepping out of the room Harry saw Snape pace the corridor agitatedly. On seeing them come out of the office however he cornered Harry much to the surprise of the others and asked him if Lily was okay. Harry looked up into his face and saw his own fear and worry mirrored in those eyes and the shape of his mouth.

After telling him that they were safe Snape nodded and uncharacteristically gripped Harry's shoulders painfully before leaving without another word.

Draco was worried about Harry and kept glancing over at him. He knew that Harry was feigning calm to assuage his brother's fears by putting up a brave front in front of the others.

Not wanting to leave him alone for the rest of the evening to dwell on sordid 'what if's', he stopped him outside his dorm room that he had insisted on accompanying him to and quietly asked "Do you want to stay with me today?"

Harry eyes sparked with sudden longing and relief at that possible prospect"You don't mind?"

"I'm the one offering" Draco reminded him, wanting to touch him.

Harry closed his eyes and smiled looking happier already "Give me a couple of minutes. I'll just grab a couple of things and we can go" he said heading towards his common room.

Draco sighed brushing his hair back. He'd hated seeing that kind of vulnerability on Harry's face today, it had brought out a fierce protectiveness from deep within him making the feeling of helplessness so much harder to bear.

Hopefully Harry would be okay by tomorrow.

000000000000000

"Bloody hell!" Harry exclaimed looking around the vast empty room before him in awe "How come you get to use this all by yourselves?" he added, poking Draco in the ribs jealously.

"This is the room that Salazar used to use to personally train the council members of his house" Draco said proudly.

"So only you and Pansy have access to it?"

"Pretty much. Though Pansy's never used it since she's not really interested in DADA"

"Wow a room of your own that's twice the size of our common room and a hall for fighting! It's a good thing we're friends" Harry said grinning.

"Hey I resent that" Draco frowned in mock anger "You're much more than that" he said cringing at his own mushiness before kissing him on the lips.

Harry closed his eyes basking in the softness of the touch not making any attempt to deepen it but just sort of breathe in Draco's clean, soapy smell and the warmth that came with it.

"You up for a duel?" Draco asked him suddenly. "It'll give you something to do and will help ease the pain and anger that I know you're suppressing" he said hoping that Harry wouldn't be offended by his honesty.

Harry rested his forehead against Draco's and smiled reassuringly at him. "Thank you, but it might mean a fight to the death since I'm feeling pretty vicious right now! You still want to do it?"

"Most definitely" Draco grinned at him pulling away "but I wouldn't be so sure of your victory" he said laughing.

Taking a few steps back they drew their wands out and bowed to each other "On the count of three then…"

They fought fiercely, throwing spells rapidly at one another moving as if they were dancing and not locked in battle. "Shit! You're moving too fast" Draco growled as he felt a spell singe past his hair.

"But you're keeping up" Harry retorted, feeling proud of Draco's much improved abilities.

Draco called forth his '_Aegisess'_ and threw the deadly dagger at Harry who saw it split into three just before he dropped to the floor and rolled out of the way.

"That was Brilliant Dray!" Harry congratulated him feeling slightly out of breath but loving the adrenaline that was pumping through his veins and thoroughly enjoying the strength of his opponent and the impact that it had on his own.

"It would have swerved away had you not moved" Draco said smirking "You have to admit though, that was a pretty close call for you!"

Harry flipped him off deciding that two could play the game and held out his wand crying out "_Falatheil!_" To his surprise he felt an unfamiliar explosion that knocked him off his feet and closed his eyes momentarily as a wave off power rolled over him. Suddenly he felt his wand leave his hands struggling to escape from his tightening grasp as if with a mind of its own and burst into a shower of silver and blue sparks that rained all over him.

"Harry you okay?" Draco called out running up to him with his eyes staying fixed on the magnificent display of unprovoked magic and gasped, nearly falling over in surprise when he saw the final product of Harry's wand.

"How?" he whispered, staring unmoving at the new, stunning, silver bow that somehow remained suspended in midair at just the appropriate height for Harry to hold with a single blue iridescent ribbon flapping madly from its lower end like a flickering flame.

Looking down at Harry to see what he was feeling, Draco felt a second shock travel through his body when he saw two similar blue, gleaming, archer's bracers on his wrists, bearing identical silver, phoenix insignia on them, appear out of nowhere.

"Ha…Harry your wrists" he said astounded..

"I know, I…I don't understand how…" Harry said as he examined them reverently slowly getting up off of the floor to do the same with the bow. Standing close to the weapon he saw with awe that it was beautifully marked all along its body with tiny little intricate etchings of a Phoenix in flight.

With shaking hands he gripped it firmly in a fighting stance somehow feeling synchronous with its massive energy. Holding out his palm, a silver arrow materialized within it and he knocked it to the taught string drawing it back with dexterity and let it go with one fluid gesture.

Trying to trace its movement with his eyes, he was startled when it seemingly disappeared mid-air and felt his jaw drop when he saw it appear like a flash on the opposite end of the room in the very next instant, deeply and firmly embedded within the wall.

"Wow!" Draco said running over to the mark and touching the wall. "It…it's broken through all the wards" he said sounding wonderstruck "_Aegisess_ can only break through one or two at a time!"

"How did you do it?" Draco asked turning to Harry, his voice burning with curiosity "Is this about what happened last year?"

"I dunno…maybe" Harry croaked running his hands lovingly over the cold surface of the new and improved deadly contraption. Closing his eyes he commanded his weapon to change back and they watched dumbstruck as it and the bracers on Harry's wrists disappeared falling to the floor as his wand once again.

Ooooooooooooo

Harry stared up at the elaborate green and silver ceiling of Draco's new room while lying on top of his enormous bed with his legs dangling over the side just managing to touch the floor.

He was feeling much more clearheaded now after a shower and consuming large quantities of food that Draco had graciously brought for them from the kitchens whilst he was in the bathroom.

He had knew that he had accepted the new changes rather too easily but having finally understood the cause of the sudden bursts of power from his wand and why it had been so restless this entire time he was relieved. The true form of '_Falatheil_' was stunning to witness and he had had no words to explain the rightness of seeing it.

Remembering the beauty of his new bow and arrow Harry closed his eyes happily and was almost at the cusp of falling asleep when he was suddenly brought back to a state of full awareness when two drops of water fell on his face.

Opening his eyes he saw Draco leaning over him with his hands extended on either side of his face looking down worriedly at him while dressed in nothing but a towel and dripping wet hair!

He looked so beautiful that all Harry could do was gaze into those intense greys in complete wonderment. Raising a trembling hand he touched Draco's face softly with it, watching him close his eyes in bliss as he moved down further to skate over the golden skin of his neck and chest slowly, following a single trail of water down his flat stomach before it disappeared into his navel.

Draco, unable to bear the sensations that his absentminded caress had evoked bent over him completely and pressed his face against Harry's throat while breathing heavily as if he was trying to calm himself. No longer able to bear the weight of his body he raised his head up and looked deeply into Harry's emerald green eyes as if in promise for all things to come and kissed him chastely on his cheek before reluctantly pulling away.

Harry unable to tear his eyes away from Draco's retreating back propped himself up on his elbows and followed him with his eyes till he disappeared behind the changing room wondering how on earth they were going to talk when all he felt like doing was kissing this boy over and over again.

ooooooooooooooooooo


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

**Thank you for appreciating the story so far:** **Kotori-Sensei, Dsmith199318, Ank-sunamuhn80, tassleburr, 456snarky, cucumbermonster4, DarkNeko4000, Nellie4911, PixaPickle, PuzzledNikki, Qtelatino 1, sev-han, Shaken250, tesetilaro, thetownguy, Kira the DaySlayer, Twinheart, LadySarah14, variante, Platinum Hearts, KDLizzy's Gay Cookies, Aanchal, James237, Dominygringa, stephanialilly, elfdemon05, Marinelife37, TrishG, Meitantei-k, Dinna22, Panthers of darkness16,**

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**(This chapter has been a tiny bit revised after I'd read Jayn's review and understood that I needed to explain why Harry and Draco needed to be there in Dumbledore's army so thank you Jayn)**

**CHAPTER 6**

"So what happened then? How did you manage to escape the Dark Lord?" Draco asked Harry finally.

Harry was sitting comfortably in Indian style on a plush armchair while Draco sat on the carpeted floor, propped against Harry's knees with his legs stretched out comfortably before him. Both of them were clutching half drained bottles of Butterbeer in their hands and were staring absently at the flames in the furnace.

"I was eight" Harry said quietly "when an injured bird fell to the ground in my school's backyard. I tried to heal it with magic as best I could at the time but before I could complete the task, Miss Rose, my then primary teacher came and scared it away."

"Okay…" Draco said confusedly wondering where exactly the story was leading to, still a little hung up over Harry doing wandless magic at that age.

"When it disappeared, it left me with a single feather" Harry continued, taking a swig out of his bottle and making Draco feel tingles of foreboding when he heard the dip in Harry's voice knowing that this was somehow important.

"It was a feather from an ice Phoenix Dray" Harry said softly, playing with Draco's damp hair trying not to think about the other boy's disbelief that was bound to come anytime now.

"And...?" Draco prompted him relentlessly, not saying anything else…yet.

"It merged with my wand on its own when I was eleven. Which makes the core of my wand a phoenix's feather" Harry said closing his eyes.

"Okay…" Draco said swallowing. "Bird of legend gives you a feather and it becomes a part of your wand, what then?"

"My wand is a soul wand" Harry said gripping the bottle in his hand tightly "It cannot be won over in any duel and resents another's touch, so when Voldemort took it from me it sort of disappeared from his hands and…and came to me, allowing me to escape."

Draco remained silent for a while just playing with the threads on the rug and then he sighed "Ugh! For what it's worth I believe you Harry. As farfetched as your story sounds, it explains a lot. Not to mention the Phoenix insignia on your archer's bracers. But it's still a stunning revelation, a…an ice Phoenix? It's just too weird! Do you know, that people say that a Phoenix always gravitates towards the most powerful wizards only? But an ice Phoenix is totally unprecedented!"

"I wouldn't lie to you Dray" Harry said a little desperately "but now you know why I couldn't tell you earlier. It seemed so improbable even to me! I've never spoke of it anyone before, no one until you and I…I'm glad you've chosen to accept it so easily, to trust me, you have no idea how glad that makes me feel."

Draco nodded but didn't say anything, what could he say anyway? He'd always known Harry was different. Even so this was still too much to take in. No wonder Harry had been so quiet about it!

Deciding that enough had been said for one night, Draco got up and stretched pulling Harry up to stand with him before dragging him over to his bed. Pulling away the covers they crept onto the mattress and lay down facing each other quietly.

Draco slowly traced Harry's shadowed face with his eyes and said softly "You're amazing you know that?"

Harry blushed under the cover of darkness and smiled, kissing Draco playfully on his nose to lighten up the mood and to hide his embarrassment from the compliment.

"I almost forgot to ask are you okay now with what happened today? About the attack I mean" Draco asked him nuzzling his neck softly.

"Yeah I guess, since nothing happened to them" Harry swallowed "It…it really freaked me out though."

"I know" Draco agreed, turning him over so that his long body lay spooned against his own as he buried his face into Harry's hair, gently taking his soft earlobe into the warm recess of his mouth and sucking on it till he heard Harry whimper, feeling him shift against his chest before settling down comfortably again. Wanting to do more but feeling too drained from the evening's happenings Draco drew the covers over them and whispered a good night before falling into a tired sleep

000000000000000

_**MINISTRY AT FAULT?**_

_**At around 7O'clock last evening, an unexpected blast shook the very foundations of the peaceful residents of Godric's Hollow. The attack was said to have been carried out by the perpetrators who call themselves 'The New Generation Death Eaters.' This has been confirmed by the Ministry of Magic himself over the radio last night.**_

_**Citizens angry over the lack of information from the officials gathered around the fountain in the Ministry's headquarters itself carrying candles in silent protest over the loss of five people from the attack. Two who were found dead on the spot while the other three victims had succumbed to their grievous injuries in St Mungo's. **_

"_**Why has the Ministry been so closed lipped about everything? Why haven't they informed the citizen of the dangers that we are facing or given them the necessary precautions? Is Voldemort truly at large? Are we at war?" These were the questions asked by many people gathered for last night's vigilance who were left feeling disappointed when the Minister of Magic did not show up to offer his consolation for family members and friends of the victims. **_

"_**It is just like the last time" one anonymous citizen said "the sky suddenly turned dark and we were dropping like flies with no knowledge of the real situation. The Ministry repeats the same mistakes over and over again." **_

_**Panic has taken over the people…**_

"Mr. Potter, are you paying attention to me dearie?" Professor Umbridge asked him, startling him so badly that he elbowed his books and quills to the floor while trying to hide the newspaper clipping.

"I am Professor" he mumbled, bending over sideways to pick up his fallen stuff when he saw Umbridge's legs halt before his face. Trying to get around them he stretched his fingers to reach for a quill when he saw something on her ankle through a rent in her stockings that left him blinking in bafflement.

"Are you quite finished child?"

"y-yes Professor I'm done" Harry said straightening up while barely managing to hide the shock on his face.

"Very well then Mr. Potter, you may begin read the next paragraph in your text out aloud" she said smiling kindly at him before walking away to the front of the class.

Harry started to read in a deadpan voice trying to concentrate on the job at hand feeling rather lightheaded wondering whether to laugh or be afraid over what he'd seen. Deciding in the end to reserve his judgement for later when he and Draco could talk in private.

"What do you think about Umbridge?" Harry asked Draco later on in the library where they were completing their heavy workload for the owls.

"Never thought about her why?" Draco asked him amusedly.

"I saw something pretty weird today" Harry hedged. "She...she has a tattoo on her ankle Dray; I saw it in class today."

"Of what? A bunny rabbit?"

"Nope, a large breasted, leather wearing dominatrix complete with whip and all" Harry sniggered.

"What!" Draco said his mouth hanging open rather unattractively.

"Yup, she's definitely one big paradox. Luna for one thinks she's evil and a wolf hiding under the boring facade."

"Harry, Luna thinks I'm a vampire's descendant and that you're my blood supplying soul-mate!"

"I never said I believed her! Just…what if?"

"Maybe…"Draco said skeptically and then imagining Umbridge's dumpy ankles with sexy tattoos on them he literally felt bile rise up in his throat and had to swallow frantically.

000000000000000

The whispering and pointing after the attack had escalated rapidly in and around the school. Groups of kids began following Darren around like he held all the answers and had even started shooting curious looks at Harry himself. Luckily no one had come right out and asked them any questions yet so they were at least thankful for that.

The students from the other houses had begun to slowly avoid the members of Slytherin and kept a wary distance from them which irked Draco no end especially after a bunch of first years had deliberately disobeyed his orders one evening during Prefect duty.

"Still you didn't have to dock fifty points from their house" Harry had said grinning, secretly cheering for him.

"I had nothing to do with that Harry" Draco defended himself smirking. "Snape who happened to have been passing by did that for me all by himself. Not, that I wasn't overjoyed" he maintained petulantly "Stupid imps deserved it and more."

0000000000000

On the day that they had finally found themselves with less homework than usual they had decided to read up on animagi and were comparing notes when Hermione came up to them and in a very businesslike voice told them to go up to the seventh floor of the castle as they had something important to tell them.

"I'm included in the invite?" Draco asked her carefully.

"Of course, you're the official mascot for house unity!"

"What?" Draco asked her looking revolted "I'm not…"

"Oh shut up Malfoy, I have nothing against you, besides, Harry won't come if you're not there" she joked, not knowing that she had actually spoken the truth.

"Fine" Draco sighed "I'll come for Harry's sake then" he said smiling and then grimaced when he felt a powerful kick to his shin under the table.

Walking up to the seventh floor they saw a giant oak door opposite Barnabas the Barmy's portrait and looked at each other in surprise, there had been no door there before! "Come" Hermione said and knocked on the door, "They've left it visible for us" she said and disappeared into the room beyond.

"Trust Darren to find something that's not supposed to be there" Harry grinned and walked in followed by Draco. The room they'd entered looked like a one of the training rooms in the Beldane Academy, chock full of all kinds of equipment used in DADA.

In the middle of the room sitting around a long rectangular table were almost every one of the Gryffindor's members and a couple others from the different houses. Draco took a double take when he saw Blaise Zabini who nodded at him and continued sitting placidly amongst them when he spotted Parvati Patil clinging onto his arm. Ah! That certainly cleared things up!

Finding empty seats Harry and Draco sat down and waited for the meeting to commence. Darren stood up looking confident as every leader was wont to do and greeted them all rather formally proceeding to explain to them how Hermione, Ron and himself had decided to form a group that would help others learn how to protect themselves and their friends should the need ever rise.

Darren cited all of his adventures at school to build confidence in them and while they were cheering for him Draco clasped Harry's hand tightly in his own under the table and winked at him surreptitiously making Harry blush and grip Draco's hand tighter.

After explaining how they would communicate using coins that Hermione had created and discussing all the rules of secrecy, Darren drew in a deep breath and asked "Any questions?"

"Yeah what's with the room?" Colin asked looking excitedly around himself.

"Let's just say that Dumbledore might have approved of our plans" Darren smiled "he 'accidently' told me about it during our last class."

Harry rubbed his thumb absently over the back of Draco's palm and smiled to himself, so the man was still a wily old fox. No wonder he had seemed so confident that Harry would train under him somehow. Too bad Darren had blurted out the source though, at least now he wasn't getting in to this blindly.

"Right get off your arses and lets begin with our first class today" Darren said briskly getting up and banishing the table in front of them.

After dividing them into pairs Darren decided that they needed to start with the basics so he demonstrated a few spells and asked each pair to come up individually and fight so that he could gauge them better.

Harry was paired off with Neville who for some absurd reason was shooting him sinister looks that made Harry want to laugh. When they up went to the dais for their turn Neville sort of became violent and kept jabbing his wand so furiously at Harry that Harry thought for sure he would be losing an eye that day!

Not many of the spells worked however and the ones that did were terribly easy to dodge. Harry wondered what had made Neville who was a natural peacemaker become someone so vehement, vicious and frankly nasty.

After they'd finished Harry pulled the boy to the corner and sat down on a stool. "Okay what's wrong Nev? You were acting like that muggle comic character the 'Furyman' today! Are you angry with me or something?"

Neville cringed and looked sheepishly at him "No, no I was just so revved up by Darren's speech I guess I kind of lost it" he said and looked down at his shoes.

"Ah so mentioning Voldemort's name brings out the demon in you huh?" Harry asked him in jest.

"You umm…you've probably heard about what happened at the hospital right?"

"No... what happened Nev? Your parents…?"

"Gran got a floo call from the hospital when Voldemort had returned saying that dad had woken up and had remained lucid for a few minutes during which time he had frantically begged the nurses to bring someone as he had something important to tell them about the Dark Lord and then he lapsed into his previous state before they could get to him."

Harry just stayed silent not really knowing what to say willing the other boy to continue with his silence.

"I guess it was like ripping out bandages from old wounds you know? And exposing them once again to the harsh environment. I thought for a long time that there was no hope for mum and dad even started to think of them as gone but now I know better and the truth hurts worse. They're struggling to break through that cloud of madness and I can't do anything to help them" Neville said looking at Harry like he was in real pain.

"I need to get out of here" Neville said tiredly "I need some air. Could you please tell Darren that I'll be there for the next class?"

Harry nodded mutely and waved forlornly at his retreating form, feeling sad and unhinged. Looking around the room Harry's eyes automatically searched for Draco who was fighting Ginny and felt relieved when he saw him, trying not to laugh at his suppressed movements which left him looking a tiny bit unbalanced.

After the fight, Draco sauntered over to Harry with a big grin on his face saying "I won!"

"Okay fine you big baby I'll reward you later!" Harry whispered smiling at him.

"Why were you looking so down just now?" Draco asked him looking concerned.

Harry shook his head and softly explained about Neville feeling sad all over again.

"I wonder what his dad wanted to tell the nurse though" Draco said aloud looking thoughtful "Especially since they were caught after the war when everyone though that the Dark Lord was dead."

Harry shrugged and pulled Draco down to sit with him almost resting his head on his shoulders before coming to his senses.

"So what do you think about Dumbledore's army? Think you want to keep coming?" Harry asked Draco.

"Dunno, frankly I think it will have no impact on our training since were at a much higher level but I guess I could come in once or twice a month as a nice diversion or something."

"Yeah you're right" Harry said watching Hermione and George fight "this is nothing compared to what we normally do and once we start working on the animagus thing we'll be swamped with too much work. But I guess I just want to remain in the loop you know? Like maintaining a general consensus of the current trend or something and also since Darren gets all his updates directly form Dumbledore it could prove to be useful to us? Maybe helping Neville will not be such a bad idea either."

Draco nodded and started cheering along with the others when he saw tiny little Luna Lovegood take on a grinning Zacharias Smith whom she wiped the floor with in one single spell before walking up to Ron to close his open mouth saying it was to prevent the Wrackspurt from entering his brain.

ooooooooooooooooooooo


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

**Thank you for appreciating the story so far:** **Kotori-Sensei, Dsmith199318, Ank-sunamuhn80, tassleburr, 456snarky, cucumbermonster4, DarkNeko4000, Nellie4911, PixaPickle, PuzzledNikki, Qtelatino 1, sev-han, Shaken250, tesetilaro, thetownguy, Kira the DaySlayer, Twinheart, LadySarah14, variante, Platinum Hearts, KDLizzy's Gay Cookies, Aanchal, James237, Dominygringa, stephanialilly, elfdemon05, Marinelife37, TrishG, Meitantei-k, Dinna22, Panthers of darkness16,**

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**CHAPTER 7**

Voldemort looked dispassionately at the man writhing in pain at his feet. He had completely lost track of the number of times that he'd used the 'Cruciatus' curse on the whining little vermin by then.

"No more my lord, please I beg you no more" the man sobbed, curling up into a tight ball as if to ward of the cruel onslaught of his master's punishment for him.

"But you had given your word to me weeks ago" Voldemort said, wondering hungrily how much more of this torture would finally break the man "Wormtail told me that you had agreed to do it long ago but I have yet to see any results."

"It…it is difficult My Lord" the man sniveled, wiping the snot and tears off his face with his robes pathetically. "Dumbledore is watching the boy too closely for me to make a move."

"Well if you think that you can share my power without giving me what I want" the dark lord hissed, bending over so that his mouth was close to the other man's ear "Then you might as well choose death now" he whispered, enjoying the shudder of fear pass through the man.

"No…no of course not my lord, I…I need more time to arrange everything" the coward pleaded from his position on the floor blinking away the sweat from his eyes.

Straightening himself up, Voldemort looked around at his surroundings and smirked, soon all this power, all the glory he'd lost fifteen years ago would be his once again. Laughing wickedly he stepped into a ready fireplace at the Ministry of Magic and was swallowed up by the glowing with green flames in an instant.

000000000000000

Harry lay on the floor of the defense hall in the Slytherin tower gazing into fiery grey eyes as Draco sank his tongue into the heat of Harry's mouth slowly exploring the hot cavern within. His breath hitched as he felt his body involuntarily arch into Draco's desperate for any contact as he lost himself in the kiss completely. Slipping his fingers under Draco's shirttails, he clung tightly on to the small of Draco's back and hummed in happiness as he grazed Draco's soft lips with his teeth gently.

Out of breath Draco moved his mouth to the angle of Harry's jaw and began pressing soft kisses over it and down the side of his neck as he fumbled with Harry's shirt buttons clumsily, trying to simultaneously suck on Harry's collar bone until he heard Harry laugh softly. Lifting his head up Draco smiled inquisitively at those beautiful green eyes which were hazy with emotion and cocked his head quizzically.

"Baby your necklace is trying to strangle me" Harry said grinning at him as he gently pushed Draco's sweaty bangs away from his forehead kissing him softly on the cheek saying "It's totally tangled up with my shirt!"

Sure enough when Draco looked down at their chests he saw Harry's half undone shirt's buttons completely entangled with his necklace. Turning pink at their slightly debauched appearances Draco bent his head and carefully tried to untangle the mess with shaking fingers.

"I like it when you call me that" he admitted in a soft voice not quite looking at Harry who was rubbing his sides gently, hiding his embarrassment when they suddenly heard a loud rap on the door.

Frantically unwinding the last loop of his necklace from Harry's shirt they stood up and tried to bring some order to their disheveled clothes and hair, stifling their laughter with some difficulty.

"Draco, are you there inside?" Pansy asked rapping impatiently on the door again.

"Give me a minute Pansy" Draco called out tucking his shirt in "I have the last few um…spells remaining, to...practice" he finished off lamely.

"I'll see you tomorrow" Harry whispered, kissing Draco on his temple and disappearing from sight with a well-placed Disillusionment spell before Draco could protest by asking him to stay instead.

Opening the door Draco let Pansy in and felt Harry brush past him as he left to go back to his own tower.

"What do you do in here?" Pansy asked him suspiciously making note of the messy hair and his slightly swollen lips.

"Why?" Draco retorted coolly remaining the very epitome of dignity and disdain. "What's it to you?"

"It's just a question" Pansy said huffily "God you're so uptight nowadays! Why do you take everything so seriously?" she said touching his arm.

"Pansy why are you here?" Draco sighed tiredly, fending off Pansy's advances easily.

"You have a letter from home" she replied angrily at being rebuffed again and thrust a thick envelope into Draco's hands before stomping away.

Breaking the seal on the flap of the envelope with some trepidation, Draco took out the letter and started to read;

_**Mon petit Cherie, **_

_**I wrote to thank you for your wonderful letters that are full of the support and love that your poor mother needs right now. I understand that you are worried for me my son what with your father running off to play at his ugly games once again but I assure you that I am quite fine. He hasn't sunk so low as to involve me with his play…as yet. **_

_**Unfortunately there is some bad news for the two of us however I fear. I overheard Lucius talking to one of the others last evening about making our home a base for their operations the next year. It makes me feel angry and sad that he would offer them something so precious of ours to be sullied by the filth that they carry but as you know he won't talk to me or tell me anything so I cannot even argue with him anymore. **_

_**As for me, I have decided go to live in France for as long as I can but you know very well as do I, your father will find me and bring me back regardless of my wishes. Still, I want to see you happy and unfettered by your father's latest mid-life crisis this once so I will see that you join me for the holidays at least as I don't want to see you near that man for a while. **_

_**I am sorry to have to burden your young shoulders with my problems son. But I find myself cut off from the rest of the world who will have nothing to do with me or my family anymore. Not even your aunt Andromeda will deign to speak with me and as for Bella, she frightens me with her level of devotion to the Dark Lord and I no longer see common ground for us anymore.**_

_**On that note I urge you take care of yourself and stay safely in school. I feel comfortable knowing that you stay under Albus's and Severus's protection as I know that they would never see any harm come to you. Continue writing to me love, your owl will know where to find me. I promise to see you during your holidays. Until we meet…**_

_**Love **_

_**Narcissa Malfoy.**_

_**P.S: Do not forget to destroy this letter.**_

Draco crushed the letter in his hands and sat down on the floor feeling miserable and angry. What was his father doing to their family? He knew how much Narcissa loved him and how much she had trusted him. Was the thirst for power so compelling he couldn't see beyond it anymore?

Wrapping his arms around his knees Draco stayed that way for a long time hoping that his father would give it up before it was too late them and for any reconciliation between them.

000000000000

Having discarded the disillusionment charm after he'd put plenty of distance between him and the Slytherin tower, Harry walked the empty corridors contemplating the three and a half months that had gone by so quickly.

He and Draco had started off with Animagus training only a few weeks ago since they had been unable to cope with their hectic schedule and had found it to be difficult and frustrating sitting hour after hour in one position lost in their own minds as they tried to call forth their beast from within.

Fortunately, only three days ago they had both finally felt a wisp of the creature's mind hidden in shadow which was so alien to them and had felt triumphant at their moderate success. Occlumency with Snape had proven to be the best thing to hasten their progress and they had felt overwhelmingly grateful to him for it.

DADA however was fast becoming laborious and boring for Harry and Draco since they were already so far advanced from the others that they simply felt like doing their homework during that time instead. Control had become a major issue and even though Harry was patient with Neville he sometimes felt the tiny urge to just simply throw in the towel and walk away. Draco who had had Ginny as a partner was better challenged but even he had skipped training on some days when he was too tired saying that he came for the pure entertainment factor anyway!

"They should rename the group" he'd once said during training while he and Harry were taking a break.

"To what? Dumbledore's army is ideal" Harry said sarcastically wondering what he was doing there for the nth time, knowing that the only reason he'd stayed was because Darren had been so happy to see his 'progress'.

"It should be called The dating agency!" Draco smirked, watching Darren openly moon after Ginny while Hermione and George flirted like crazy during their sparring as Ron looked on at them through squinty eyes.

He and Harry had continued their own private training which usually ended in heavy make out sessions like today, which both he and Draco looked forward to all week. He never would have guessed how easy it all could be for them in the past. So natural for him to hold Draco and kiss him and so equally normal for Draco to respond in kind.

The only times they'd face difficulties during that time was when Harry would sink to the floor exhausted after calling forth 'Falatheil' or when he would suddenly stop fighting and clutch his head in despair. "It's like a dam inside of me Dray. I...I can feel so much power behind it but I can't touch it. It's so bloody frustrating!"

Returning back to the present, Harry shook his head and laughed at him-self a little; what with training, DA classes, Animagus exercises, owls and quidditch he was surprised he had had time to breathe.

"Maybe I should quit DA" Harry muttered and kept walking when he heard a muffled sob coming from behind the corner of corridor. Running to see who it was, Harry saw tiny Hannah Abbot sitting on the floor next to a knight's armor and crying to herself.

"Um….you alright there Abbott?" Harry asked her cringing at his stupid question.

Hannah looked at him in surprise with eyes swimming with tears and shook her head "Sh…she hi…hit me" the little girl hiccupped and bent her head low.

"Who?" Harry asked shocked.

"Umbridge!"

"What! Why?" Harry said looking baffled.

"I bumped in to her in the corridor and accidently stepped on her foot" Hannah said laughing and crying at the same time listening to the absurdity of her own claim.

Harry just stared at her in silence not knowing what to say or how to console her "Did you tell anyone?"

"No, no please don't" Hannah said looking pleadingly at him "I don't want that kind of attention"

"But…"

"Please Harry?"

Harry nodded still feeling stunned pulling up the girl to stand before him "You'll tell me if she does it again okay? You promise?"

Hannah sniffled but nodded and walked sadly away refusing any further help from Harry wanting to be alone in her humiliation.

"Cripes! Luna was right! The woman is a nasty witch" Harry said aloud, leaning against the wall wondering whom to tell about this new revelation or who would believe him anyway if he told them.

000000000000000000000


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

**Thank you for appreciating the story so far:** **Kotori-Sensei, Dsmith199318, Ank-sunamuhn80, tassleburr, 456snarky, cucumbermonster4, DarkNeko4000, Nellie4911, PixaPickle, PuzzledNikki, Qtelatino 1, sev-han, Shaken250, tesetilaro, thetownguy, Kira the DaySlayer, Twinheart, LadySarah14, variante, Platinum Hearts, KDLizzy's Gay Cookies, Aanchal, James237, Dominygringa, stephanialilly, elfdemon05, Marinelife37, TrishG, Meitantei-k, Dinna22, Panthers of darkness16,****Dirty-Nat1989, fbmstar, Cynderet, olciak123, Kali-Anna of Darkness, geetac, yeenee, we-are-all-witnesses, EmberRavenclaw, Qtelatino1, 20eKUraN11,456snarky, Dreamaker401, n0n0pants, Daphne Li, xdarkangelx9585, zindiq, aoifedb, Vladimir Mithrander, Jayn, papurri, Cheza Takehashii, guildam595, Sherl0ked, J'aime Manga, Gemstones, Aile d'Argent, dollydelle, jaded, AlexaSummer, stonegnome1, sweetcherrypie007, Luminescence, kalyn40, himewolf, little prince ryo, Just another crazy radical, the guy doesn't have a clue, 7orion7, . , Rowan Mikaio, 3headedcow666, SorinaElena, Tom-boi01, superraton, TheFira, yayawhynot89, potter-granger-mad, toreyhassen, Selwyn Sentinel,DarkAngelBoi70, onePlotThickens, Girl of Fire,**

**I also want to thank those who continue to review the Hidden Power as it means a lot to me. Thank-you, you wonderful people you :D **

**I wanted to see Umbridge end up dead and scattered to Carrion in book seven (in the real books). So maybe I'll see that happen sometime in my own book. Seriously the woman needed to go! **

**As always keep reviewing the story Thank you : ) **

**CHAPTER 8**

"Blast it Harry! This feels like déjà vu" Draco whined under the cover of a disillusionment spell.

Harry flicked him in response and continued rummaging quite complacently through Umbridge's belongings in her cupboard. Draco was right; this breaking in business was starting to come quite naturally to the two of them what with all the experience they had garnered over the years.

"At least tell me what we're looking for?"

"Any information about this devil lady, her diary, photographs, scrolls anything. Dray, only last week Hannah Abbott was found crying in the corridor because the woman hit her for merely bumping into her…"

"Yeah but Hannah would cry if you'd told her that her pet kneazle had eaten her homework" Draco said rolling his eyeballs in the dark.

"Okay…then what about Dennis Creevey this week huh? That kid's definitely got guts but when we saw him in the greenhouse after she'd confronted him he looked so frightened that it took nearly three bars of honeydukes best chocolate to get him to open up to us."

Draco suddenly yanked something out of the cupboard and exclaimed in surprise "Harry! I think I've got something look…"

Peering down at the scroll that Draco had managed to pull out of the cupboard; Harry saw that it was a certificate sealed by the Minister of Magic himself declaring Miss. Dolores Umbridge as a new member of the Aurors.

"Oh cripes! Did you see her photograph?" Draco said trying to stifle his laughter with difficulty so that it came out sounding like a snort.

Examining the photo Harry saw a plump, younger Umbridge with great big bulging eyes and a huge pink bow on the top of her head breathing heavily in the picture with a very sinister expression on her face.

"The woman looks like a very drunk, female version of Dobby!" Draco said clutching his stomach and laughing.

"That would be an insult to Dobby" Harry muttered chastising him while grinning like he'd found his favorite pet.

"Oh look there's more" Draco said pulling out another scroll. On opening it however he stopped laughing abruptly and re-read the script once again.

"What? What does it say?" Harry asked him impatiently.

"She was dismissed from the squad in disgrace. She was found guilty of killing an important witness during an interrogation simply because she was frustrated about the lack of co-operation from the witness's side."

Harry felt his heart clench in despair at the thought of the woman being another freaky megalomaniac left for them to deal with. What the hell was wrong with the DADA department anyway? Why were all of its teachers so screwed up?

They searched the room for some more time, this time in silence but came up with no evidence to prove that the woman was an evil cow. Giving up for the day they vowed to keep an eye on the turncoat just in case.

00000000

Darren ducked when an oncoming spell came his way and threw a well-placed 'E_xpelliarmus'_ spell at Cedric who dodged it quite skillfully by rolling out of the way.

Not giving up, Darren mustered up his power and threw a stunning spell at his opponent watching triumphantly as Cedric unable to recover from the first attack crumpled and hit the floor in seconds.

"And that is why a shield would have been ideal under the circumstances" Darren said aloud, reviving his sparring partner. "You have to be quick to judge the situation and use the appropriate defense at the time. So for today we'll be practicing the use of Shields during a battle and how useful they are in saving time. Pair up and start practicing!"

"Hey you're getting really good Neville" Harry praised the beaming boy who had become his regular sparring partner, when he deflected one of Harry's spells with ease after fighting for about ten minutes.

"That's because you're going easy on me Harry" Neville countered modestly with a smile stepping out of the dais to give another pair the chance to practice.

"By the way how's your dad Nev? Any improvement?" Harry asked him tentatively knowing that it was a touchy subject for the boy.

"No, no improvement but he's started to get agitated if too many people enter the room. Before he was completely oblivious to his surroundings but now the healers are not so sure if that's true."

Harry patted him on the shoulder and went to join Draco who was leaning against the wall half asleep.

"You can go back to your tower you know" Harry said softly, unconsciously playing with the hair on the nape of Draco's neck smiling at the small tremor that passed through the other boy making him completely forget about where they were when Ginny suddenly came up beside him and said urgently "I wouldn't do that if I were you Harry, Zacharias looks like he's about to have a fit" she said looking pointedly at Harry's hands.

Draco's eyes snapped open immediately and he took one giant step away from Harry while simultaneously looking worriedly around them. Harry felt a tiny twinge of hurt when he saw Draco distancing himself but knew deep down that it was necessary for them to keep their relationship a secret for now. Turning around he glared at the stupid Smith brat and felt a vindictive pleasure when he saw him pale in fear.

"I'm going to beat the crap out of that little bugger one of these days" he said under his breath and for some reason found him-self unable to look at Draco in that moment so he walked away from him after saying his goodbyes to everyone else.

Really, why did the world sometimes feel like a giant shit-hole?

Ooooooooooooo

"Mr. Potter may I see you in my office after supper?" Umbridge asked looking down at Harry with a pleasant smile at the end of her class.

Harry nodded and felt a spike of curiosity at the request. Exchanging knowing looks with Draco he couldn't help wondering if the Professor had somehow found out about his and Draco's illegal foray into her office last night.

After consuming a rather hurried dinner he pulled Draco with him into an empty corridor and stood quietly looking down at his hands.

"If she does anything to you we'll report her" Draco said with uncertainty painting his voice.

"Yeah I know" Harry replied unconvincingly, feeling like one very insecure fly heading off to face one equally irate spider. "Just give me a minute" he said and closed his eyes breathing steadily wondering if it was finally his turn now to face the lying witch openly.

Draco picked up one of his hands and placed a soft kiss on the inner surface of his wrist reassuring him and making Harry blush at the intimacy of the gesture. "I have your back you know. We don't even know why she's calling you. Maybe it's about an assignment or something" he said looking hopeful.

Harry laughed and nodded "Yeah, it just feels like I'm headed off for battle or something" he said and felt stupid for feeling that tiny bit of fear.

"So, you want me to wait outside her door for you?" Draco asked suddenly looking too innocently wide eyed at Harry who bopped him on the head in reply while grinning widely.

"Or maybe I should hold your hand till you enter her room" he mocked him looking thoughtful and dancing out of the way of Harry's fists.

"That's not at all a bad idea Dray" Harry countered mischievously "Zachy will get all homophobic on us and it will totally give me another opportunity to maybe kiss him this time" Harry giggled remembering the last time he'd hugged the poor sap.

"Hey, you can't kiss someone else" Draco pouted sulkily and was about to kiss Harry when they heard footsteps at the end of the corridor causing them to break apart abruptly.

Stopping their play immediately Harry sobered up and waved to Draco before giving him one nervous look and walked away towards Umbridge's office feeling somewhat alleviated and better prepared once again.

Ooooooooooooo

Knocking on the door Harry heard a faint 'come in' and entered the room feeling rather exposed. Looking at his Professor, his mouth fell open in shock when he saw the gigantic bow crowning her head in all its pink glory once again and had to swallow desperately to muffle his spontaneous gagging. 'Great I'm about to be abused by a fifty year old child' he thought despondently and greeted her with a lackluster voice.

"Follow me Mr. Potter" Umbridge said guiding Harry into a hidden room behind her bookshelf. Stepping into her inner sanctum Harry felt unnerved when he saw the walls lined with hundreds of pictures of cats all staring blankly at him in disdain.

"Sit down" she said pointing to a large uncomfortable looking metal chair while standing over him with an air of great patience.

"Now Mr. Potter you must be wondering why I called you to my office so suddenly. The truth is I've wanted to speak with you since the very beginning of this year. In fact I'm here entirely because of you " she said enigmatically while twirling her wand absentmindedly.

Harry just stared dumbfounded at her wondering if she had been channeling Professor Trelawney's spirit during supper or something.

"Ah no need to look so troubled dear child" she said gently "But it's true that I've been waiting for a chance like this since I came here."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked her warily racking his brains for any clues.

"I finally have the leverage that I needed all along Mr. Potter" the old frog said dramatically patting the monstrosity on her head looking as pleased as a…cat.

"Leverage is required only if you need something from a person Professor. I have nothing to give to you."

"My, my, you are indeed quite the bright boy that I expected to find. I think this will go very smoothly if you continue to remain so" Umbridge said looking very happily at him. "But first I think a little disciplining is in order don't you think?"

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"There is the small matter of you vandalizing my office last night along with Mr. Malfoy my dear boy. That is a serious offence and my leverage. Don't worry I will be lenient in my punishment and I promise to leave no scars behind" she promised him as if in consolation.

Harry was about to get up from the chair when Umbridge tapped the armrest with her wand which produced four metal cuffs that snapped around Harry's wrist and ankles binding him to the chair completely.

"What the hell are you doing?" Harry asked her all fear forgotten by now in his anger.

He decided on the spot to wait for her to make her next move wondering what this was all about knowing that if it became too much for him to take getting out with wand- less magic would a piece of cake anyway.

"Relax, the more you struggle the tighter its hold on you becomes" Umbridge said happily patting the chair lovingly.

"The thing is Mr. Potter, we've heard some rumors about you, about how you 'escaped' from the Dark Lord so very easily the last year" she said smiling serenely at him. "Unfortunately for you no one is buying it. Accidental magic was a lie and a very clumsy one at that because I know for sure that that is not what happened to you. No, the Dark Lord has become very interested in you Mr. Potter and we want to know why, what did you do last year that made him want you so desperately?"

Harry sat unmoving on the chair with his mouth tightly clamped wondering how the woman had so much information about him.

"If you do not answer me Mr. Potter, remember that I could inform others about the break in."

Harry smirked at her and shrugged nonchalantly. So he'd merit a suspension from school big deal. It was not enough 'Leverage' as the woman called it for him to spill the beans.

"So you won't talk" she said shaking her head in disappointment and touching the cuffs on his wrists smiling as they tightened further sure to leave bruises the next day.

"I have done some research on you Mr. Potter and have found some disturbing pieces of information about you. How you cavort so openly with a death eater's son and more disgusting, how you've developed a very intimate relationship with him."

Harry froze trying to hide his anger desperately, feeling the dam in his mind crack one tiny bit. He'd kill her if she touched Draco.

"The thing is Mr. Potter, I happen to know Mr. Lucius Malfoy personally so I know that if he found out that his son was a faggot he'd kill him and you without another thought. So this is where it gets nasty for you my dear child. You must make a choice; keep our meeting a secret or Mr. Malfoy will be sent a long, detailed letter about all of your…activities. Leverage for your absolute silence. "

Harry clenched his fist against the rage that he felt and desperately tried to maintain his control.

Umbridge losing her patience slashed his face with a superficial cut and watched as the blood trickled out of the wound in glee. "It won't scar Mr. Potter, but this is just a small taste of what I'm capable off."

Harry fighting off the stinging pain laughed loudly, "Right, I'm still in the castle you hag. Dumbledore…no my mum will kill you and feed your entrails to some animal if she found out about this."

"If you refuse to co-operate Mr. Potter I will have to perform Legilimency on you and rip the answers from your own head. I know things about you that would be of interest to anyone you see and I intend to prove myself right. Things like how you disappeared for an entire year during your third year, supposedly to France where none of the children have met you or things like how Dumbledore has been keeping mum about Philosopher's stone and the chamber of secrets."

Harry feigned boredom and said yawning widely "You can try but it might be too much for you" he said looking straight into her eyes with disgust.

Lifting his head up roughly she cried out 'Legilimens' in a condescending voice expecting to tear through his mind when she suddenly hit upon a solid wall that was totally impenetrable.

"Ho…how did you do that?" she asked thrown off kilter looking at him with hate "How are you blocking me?"

"Because you're terrible at it" Harry said smiling brightly at her, enjoying her frustration while trying to hide his own surprise at what he himself had glimpsed of her unprotected mind!

She tried several times but kept hitting the same barrier making her blood boil.

"How wonderful Mr. Potter" she exclaimed wildly, wiping of her sweat un-dignifiedly. "Strong protection means there must be something valuable behind it. I shall give it a rest tonight but I will play with you again. I will break down your walls and ravage your mind the next time make no mistake but if I cannot then there is always Veritaserum or torture, both very effective but I will use them only if needed. I have been given plenty of time to get an answer out of you" she said healing the wound on his face and releasing him.

"Remember Draco's life is in my hands so you cannot repeat this to anyone, not even him and also the next I call you will come immediately to this office" she threatened him watching him get up from the chair unsteadily with narrowed eyes.

Harry almost ran out of the room slamming the door behind him in anger "Bitch" he thought, quickly healing his chafed wrists and ankles as best he could before anyone saw it.

Walking a little away he saw Draco waiting impatiently for him and felt nauseous. It was going to be near impossible to lie to him.

"You okay? Did she say anything about last night?" Draco asked him hugging him quickly before anyone saw.

"Um…no it was the assignment thing" he said trying to smile "You were totally right."

"Really?" Draco asked him frowning disbelievingly at him.

Harry swallowed and nodded walking away quickly trying to cover up his blatant lie with stupid banter while begging for forgiveness from Draco in his mind.

But he couldn't tell anyone about what had happened not yet, not when he needed to go back to that bitch's chamber again. It was imperative that he did because while she was busily trying to enter his mind he had had a glimpse of her own and had found something very interesting indeed.

Who would have thought that mild mannered Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic would be the one to have sent this evil woman to their school that too right under Dumbledore's nose a move he would never have made unless he was desperate!

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	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

**Thank you for appreciating the story so far:** **Kotori-Sensei, Dsmith199318, Ank-sunamuhn80, tassleburr, 456snarky, cucumbermonster4, DarkNeko4000, Nellie4911, PixaPickle, PuzzledNikki, Qtelatino 1, sev-han, Shaken250, tesetilaro, thetownguy, Kira the DaySlayer, Twinheart, LadySarah14, variante, Platinum Hearts, KDLizzy's Gay Cookies, Aanchal, James237, Dominygringa, stephanialilly, elfdemon05, Marinelife37, TrishG, Meitantei-k, Dinna22, Panthers of darkness16,**

**Dirty-Nat1989, fbmstar, Cynderet, olciak123, Kali-Anna of Darkness, geetac, yeenee, we-are-all-witnesses, EmberRavenclaw, Qtelatino1, 20eKUraN11,456snarky, Dreamaker401, n0n0pants, Daphne Li, xdarkangelx9585, zindiq, aoifedb, Vladimir Mithrander, Jayn, papurri, Cheza Takehashii, guildam595, Sherl0ked, J'aime Manga, Gemstones, Aile d'Argent, dollydelle, jaded, AlexaSummer, stonegnome1, sweetcherrypie007, Luminescence, kalyn40, himewolf, little prince ryo, Just another crazy radical, the guy doesn't have a clue, 7orion7, . , Rowan Mikaio, 3headedcow666, SorinaElena, Tom-boi01, superraton, TheFira, yayawhynot89, potter-granger-mad, toreyhassen, Selwyn Sentinel,DarkAngelBoi70, onePlotThickens, Girl of Fire, Lily anne latriea, Griffing07, Ruby Silken Sun, Carla Coleman, angeluz21, griffindork93, statman. **

**CHAPTER 9**

Harry gritted his teeth in frustration from being unable to concentrate on his Animagi training. He was stuck in rut thinking about Umbridge and the two unfortunate visits he had paid her so far this month.

The stupid woman had reverted back to her polite façade the second time he'd seen her and had tried to draw out answers from Harry by bringing his guard down only to find out that she had been played by him the entire time. Thank heavens she had been called away for a meeting at that moment of realization or god knows what she would have done to him otherwise.

He still wasn't sure who had sent her to the school in the first place and why she seemed so interested in him anyway. Also how on earth had she found out about Draco and him especially since they had been so discreet with each other the entire time?

Giving up trying to conjure the image of his animal, he turned to watch Draco instead who was sitting still and unmoving beside him while looking very peaceful. Carefully studying his highbrow fringed by golden strands of hair, his long eyelashes and moist pink lips in silence, he felt himself relax automatically and finally gave over to the fatigue he'd been feeling all evening.

Falling back onto the floor he lost himself in his thoughts once again and was about to close his eyes when he heard Draco yelp in surprise. Sitting up quickly he saw him beaming with happiness and felt his own spirits lift at the sight of that wonderful smile.

"You did it? You saw?" Harry asked Draco eagerly, hoping that at least one of them had made some progress.

"I think so" Draco smiled "It was kind of hazy but I think a few more days and I'm going to be able to see it."

Harry inched closer to him as if drawn to his radiance and sat crossed legged opposite him dropping his head heavily onto the crook of Draco's neck while nuzzling him with his nose and lips.

"What? What's up?" Draco asked him concernedly knowing fully well that something had been bugging Harry for a while now.

"Let's go flying" Harry said suddenly gathering up the other boy in his arms in a loose grip looking up at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Um…it's kind of late Harry" Draco said laughing, ruffling his hair gently.

"Screw that. It'll be totally fun to fly at night" Harry egged him on in what he thought was his best hypnotic voice.

"Fine, but if any one catches us I'm going to say that you had me under the Imperius curse."

Harry chuckled but nodded and stood up quickly pulling Draco with him feeling a surge of adrenaline pass through him. Maybe tonight he'd finally know what being fifteen was really like.

Promising to meet up on the grounds they both ran to their respective rooms and got their broomsticks while trying to avoid people as much as they could.

When Harry came to the meeting place he saw Draco already standing there with his broomstick in hand.

Running up to him he hugged him on impulse and laughed while trying to fend of Draco's responding swats.

"Okay, I've brought a glow in the dark snitch with me" Draco announced finally extricating himself from Harry's grasp and proudly flourished a glowing florescent snitch "So we'll have a best out of five game."

"Agreed but what are the stakes?"

"Loser sneaks in one bottle of mead from Hogsmeade without Filch finding out."

"If we're caught that's worth a week of detention" Harry warned him.

"Yeah but you're the one who's going to be doing it" Draco taunted him sitting on his broom and simultaneously letting go of the snitch.

"Yeah?" Harry said grinning "Then why do I so clearly see _you_ kissing up to Rosmerta for the next few months or so?"

"Hey give me some credit" Draco said taking off abruptly "I do that anyway" He called out and shot off into the night before Harry could say anything.

"Cheater" Harry mumbled and got on his own broom.

It was a full moon that night and there was a slight breeze that kept them feeling invigorated as they flew in great speed towards their goal.

They looped, swerved, feinted and cut across each other forgetting all about their cramped schedules and had so much fun chasing the glowing object. The score was an even two at the end of nearly forty five minutes and they were feeling winded with all their antics when Harry suddenly spotted the snitch hovering close to the surface of the ground below them and dove gracefully in pursuit of it.

Draco on seeing him dive followed him closely only pulling up his broom to a horizontal position when their feet were skimming the grass with their brooms almost touching each other.

Harry leaned forward and was about to catch the snitch when Draco stood up on his broom and jumped across to Harry's broom deliberately pulling the boy off his seat and onto the floor so that they were rolling on the mud in the next instant while wrestling with each other like wild animals.

After finally calming down, they lay down on the ground panting feeling completely exhausted while bearing multiple scratches and bruises from their tumble.

Harry punched Draco's shoulder in a friendly way while pouting at his profile grumpily "You were so going to lose" he grumbled pulling out a tuft of grass from beside him and hurling it at Draco churlishly.

"Fair is fair" Draco smirked at him while wiping away a drop of sweat from brow "Nobody won anyway so the bet is off."

"Ah but I was so looking forward to seeing your public humiliation" Harry sighed sadly "Rosmerta would have decimated you."

"Some boyfriend you are" Draco said biting Harry's shoulder really hard in revenge before scrambling up quickly to make further retaliation impossible after collecting his broom and snitch as he ran towards the lake.

Harry rubbing his fresh bruise tenderly jumped up picking up his broom and gave chase abusing Draco gleefully until they both stopped dropping their brooms to the ground and clutching their sides while standing in front of the placid lake.

Looking slyly at Draco, Harry walked up to the edge of the lake and started speaking in a very sad manner "I still have nightmares about the lake you know, I'm so glad that the squid's been removed from it" he said hiding his evil grin from Draco.

Draco came to stand beside him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder "You were really awesome in there; Cedric even now doesn't shut up about you."

"Yeah, but I thought that I'd almost lost you down there" Harry said inching closer to the unsuspecting boy "I mean when the lake froze I thought that's it, we're dead."

"Aww come on Harry you know Dumbledooorre…" Draco found himself being pushed into the lake by a cackling Harry and hit the freezing water with a loud expletive " You bastard" He yelled through chattering teeth "I'm going to so kill you!"

Harry was laughing his head off when he saw Draco start to sink "Shit Harry I think I've been caught by grindylows!" Draco said looking horrified disappearing in an instant under the surface leaving only his robes behind to float on the water.

Harry panicking shucked off his outer robes and jumped into the lake with the rest of his clothes on, braving the sudden chill swimming franctically over to where Draco was last seen and felt something tug him from below. Surprised by the sudden attack he allowed himself to be dragged under for a little bit and then felt his mirth and relief bubble over when he saw that it was only Draco.

Coming up for air they both looked at each other and burst out laughing, struggling to push the other under the surface.

"My father is going to kill you when he finds out that you've ruined any chance of my having Malfoy offspring in the future" Draco stuttered in the cold water "My balls are frozen solid!"

Harry stuck his tongue out at him and swam to the shore pulling him-self up with difficulty as he was weighed down by his wet clothes helping Draco who was right beside him.

They both made it to the tree beside the lake and flopped down leaning against its trunk feeling completely worn out and cold until Harry dried their clothes with wandless magic and placed a warming spell on them.

"God you're such a moron" Draco said affectionately dropping his head onto Harry's shoulder and closing his eyes almost curling up into the heat emanating from Harry's body.

Harry wound his hand into Draco's hair and lifted his head up so that he could kiss him sliding his tongue into Draco's open mouth while breathing warm air into him. He quickly undid the top three buttons of Draco's shirt and bent down to kiss him on his throat and sternum slowly sliding over to his already pert nipples and tonguing them happily.

Draco moaned softly and shut his eyes against all other sensations simply enjoying the heat that was slowly building up in the pit of his stomach.

Pulling Harry up he kissed him hard almost biting his lower lip and pushed him away smirking "Enough Potter, if we stay out here any longer we're going to be facing more than just a detention" he said getting up unsteadily while trying to straighten up his clothes.

Harry got up kneeling on the floor and bit Draco on his waist over his shirt before gathering up his stuff and running away laughing "Last one in the castle is a flobberworm!"

Draco still trying to overcome the sensations that were radiating from the bite, growled and chased after him all the while threatening him with bodily harm.

On reaching the school they both parted ways to their respectful towers feeling tired but lighter than they had felt all year.

Draco climbed onto his bed and fell into a deep sleep almost immediately happily dreaming about dancing squids when he was suddenly plunged into a terrifying darkness.

The walls, ground and sky that rose around him were suddenly coated in dripping blood and felt something slam into him from above. Looking up he saw lightening flash in the reddened sky and broken pieces of human flesh fall out from it, raining down on him with no warning.

Trying to run away, he felt something grab hold of his ankles and drag him down with them. Desperately fighting of his pursuer he turned around and saw that it was his father pulling him into the roiling quagmire at his feet looking cold and unfeeling.

"Fa—father" Draco whimpered fighting him off with all his might, clawing his way up.

"Filth!" Lucius hissed "They are nothing but filth Draco and now you've been tainted as well" he said looking disgustedly at him. "How am I to call you my son ever again?"

"No—No" Draco pleaded with him "I am your son but father don't kill them please don't kill them."

Draco cried out and woke up clutching at his ankle in panic. Looking around he saw himself back in his room and felt a wave of relief pass over him. He was safe for now at least.

He felt a terrible dread creep up from somewhere deep within him and shuddered against the knowledge that something bad was coming in the near future. Some kind of tragedy was going to befall them all and if he understood the premonition well, it was his father who was going to herald the coming storm.

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	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

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**CHAPTER 10**

They were already ten minutes late for work and even though the clinic was their own, they hated irresponsibility and tardiness. Hurrying into the subway they boarded the train thankfully and sat down tiredly.

Pulling out a packet of sandwiches from her bag the woman handed a few to her husband and began feasting on the remaining one herself with gusto.

Leaning back against the headrest after consuming her hurried breakfast the woman closed her eyes counting off the list of things she had to do for the day after work. Grocery, laundry, a little reading up…maybe and oh yes a letter to her daughter.

Thinking about her daughter, the woman felt a warm glow of pride and unable to suppress her happiness she kissed her husband on his cheek impulsively and giggled.

Looking down at his wife the man smiled at her indulgently. He had finally reached the pinnacle of happiness, good job, great family, enough money to live on more than comfortably; really what more could a man ask for. Placing his arm over his wife's shoulder they sat in blissful silence while looking out of the window when the man suddenly saw a flash of orange go off in the corner of his eyes and before he knew it his world exploded into a burning hell and last thing he ever heard was the sound of his beautiful wife's piercing scream.

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"George, if you think for one moment that I'm going to finish your astronomy assignment for you then you need to get your head checked. I know that you and Fred have been holed up working on some big secret project for some time now but for god-sakes man, go look at the pretty stars once in a while at least" Hermione huffed at her smirking boyfriend.

"But I have such a wonderful, intelligent girlfriend who loves me and wants nice things for me" George said looking at her with wide innocent eyes.

"The key word being, intelligent you poor gulping plimpy!" Hermione said triumphantly and was about to flounce away when she saw a sudden flash midair before a singed piece of paper appeared out of nowhere and fell to her feet.

Picking it up curiously knowing that it was a missive from the headmaster, Hermione opened the note and read the letter becoming pale after finishing it.

"What? What was it?" George asked coming to stand beside her immediately "That was from Fawkes wasn't it?"

Hermione nodded and tried to suppress the fear bubbling inside her "Dumbledore wants to see me in his office" she said tightly "Says it's an emergency."

George knew that such messages had been appearing in front of one or two of the other students recently and none of them bearing any good news. Still, deciding not to add to Hermione's worry he caught her hand firmly in his, "I'm coming with you" he said simply and walked with her to the office.

The others in the DA room avoided looking at each other, knowing the haunted looks that they'd find mirrored in the other's eyes, a look they were now quite familiar with. No, Hermione was not going to be alright.

Draco blanched when he saw the note and held the wall behind him for support trying not to appear guilty in front of the others as he drowned in the nightmare he'd had two days ago and felt himself struggling for breath as he sank into the bloody marshes once again when he felt someone call out to him in an urgent voice. Opening his eyes he found himself looking into the warm brown eyes of Ginny and felt relief wash over him. It would never do to look weak in front of others especially not now.

"Hey Draco you okay?" Ginny asked him worriedly in a quiet whisper.

"Yeah uh…too much quidditch practice" he said standing tall once again scanning the room for Harry "Um…could you tell Harry that I've gone back to my room?" Draco asked her walking away from her before she could say anything.

He couldn't tell anyone his dream or premonition or whatever it was, it was too disgusting. This time telling even Harry felt like it would expose some ugly part of him that he never wanted him to see. Maybe later he could…

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_**EXPLOSION IN MUGGLE SUBWAY! 127 PEOPLE FOUND DEAD! SUSPECTS ROUNDED UP AND TAKEN IN TO CUSTODY BY THE MINISTRY! **_

_**Yesterday morning at around 8:45a.m. during what Muggles call the rush hour a sudden explosion rocked the muggle subway in a prominent part of London's underground network instantly killing over a hundred people in it.**_

_**Certain unnamed sources from the Ministry say that immediately after the explosion had taken place, the detectors for powerful dark magic in the Ministry had gone off alerting them to the attack. The Aurors nearest to the site of the explosion put up several Anti-Disapparating wards around the station blocking all possible routes of escape when they spotted Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Goyle and Mr. Vincent, three suspect Death Eaters, trying to make a quick getaway on foot.**_

"_**They have been captured and sent to Azkaban" Chief Auror Rufus Scrimgeour said "They will be questioned thoroughly and if found guilty will be tried by the Wizengamot by next week latest. Justice will be meted out to the criminals but until then investigations will continue."**_

"_**We will be offering the Muggle Prime Minister all our help" Cornelius Fudge, Minister of magic said in an interview "Hopefully the man agrees to it" he said, looking tensed and tired.**_

_**The utter devastation left people shocked beyond….**_

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Harry was sitting outside Draco's room leaning against the door wondering how to talk to him. The boy had skived off the day's classes and had stayed holed up in his room the entire time, not that Harry blamed him for hiding but he was starting to get worried.

"Dray…?" He whispered knocking on the door softly hoping Pansy was asleep "Baby please let me in, please?"

"Go away" Draco's muffled voice came through the door and Harry felt a tiny bit better, at least he now knew that he was inside for sure.

"I can't leave Dray, you know I can't, not with you hurting" Harry said, knowing that he was probably wounding Draco's pride right then. "If you let me in I'll just stay a minute" Harry begged him dropping his head into his hands.

The door silently opened a tiny bit and Harry almost lost his balance. Scrambling to his feet he stood for a second nervously playing with handle on the door and then let himself in.

Spotting Draco lying face down on the bed with the covers thrown in disarray Harry slowly sat down beside him and placed a tentative hand on his shoulder. Draco flinched from the touch which cut Harry deeply making him withdraw all contact immediately.

"Why are you still here?" Draco asked him while lying face down on his pillow "My father's killed so many innocent people, why aren't you disgusted by me? I am."

"Dray, everyone knew your father was a death eater, not just now but before too. They just never had concrete proof to charge him for it. You know when we first came here I heard Ron warning Darren about you and your family but I didn't care. I decided to find out who you were, not through rumors, not through some legend but by actually talking to you, studying with you, flying with you and you know what? I found my best friend. It sucks right now I know, but I'm here, I'll stand with you if the time comes when you need me to, I promise."

"What the hell do you know Harry" Draco said sounding vehement and angry "Your family is like the most perfect family in the world. You're the Boy who Lived's brother for crying out loud! Everyone accepts you and loves you."

Harry felt the barb in his words and kept silent. He knew Draco wanted to hurt him because he was feeling so miserable. So rather than trying to defend himself Harry decided to become his punching bag for the day, Draco had always been there for him when he was feeling indisposed and now it was his turn to help.

"I'm sorry" Draco mumbled after the silence "I didn't mean…I know you…"

Reaching out to play with Draco's hair Harry felt happy when his touch was not rejected.

"How…how's Hermione?" Draco asked his voice cracking and body tensing "Is she doing better?"

It was during the night hours after Hermione had been called to the office that Darren had called him and told him the sad news. Hermione's parent's bodies were found amongst the deceased after the explosion.

No one had seen her since that evening and when Harry asked if he could see her Darren told him that she had collapsed and they were now keeping her under observation in the infirmary. When he'd told Draco the news Draco had cut off all connections and closed his doors to everyone.

During dinner today Ron and a couple of others had shot ugly looks his way and for once he let them feeling happy it was him rather than Draco. Only Luna and Ginny had come up to him today and told him to get Draco back, that they would stand by his side irrespective of what other thought.

Now looking at him buried in his pain Harry didn't know what words to use to comfort him so he buried his head into Draco shoulder and stayed still just feeling the rise and fall his back under his chest.

"Ha…Harry? Is she okay?" Draco asked him in a small voice clenching his fists on either side of his face.

"Nobody's allowed to see her except George, Darren and Ron. She…collapsed after…"

"Oh God!" Draco moaned into his pillow "How can I ever face her again? How do I apologize for my screwed up family?" he said and Harry knew he was crying now, each dry sob sounding so painful and lonely. "Mother sent me a message" Draco said quieting down a bit "Father if convicted will probably face the kiss for his crime" Draco said swallowing "I want to hate him but…"

Clutching him close Harry let him cry into the pillow until he finally fell into a tired, restless sleep and then joined him under the covers after pulling him close.

"I'm sorry Hermione" he whispered into the dark night knowing that by staying with Draco a very small part of him was betraying her.

0000000000000000

Hermione had finally agreed to see people the next day even though she still looked as pale as a ghost and funnily enough after she'd seen lots of people and had maintained a plastic smile for them she suddenly turned to Harry with a fierce, determined look in her eyes and said "Where's that coward? I want to talk to him; will you get him to come?"

Harry dragged a very fidgety Draco back with him who'd stood outside her room pacing the corridor like a man possessed until they heard her exasperatedly call for him to come in.

"It was your father Draco, not you" she said immediately, stressing her use of his first name. "I of all the people should know what blood means to you 'pureblood' wizards, but I for one have never stood by your ideals and nor have my parents. It's what a man does that gives him his reputation not his title or money as my father, a self-made man used to always say."

She held out a hand for him to shake and waited patiently for him to take the offering. "I don't think we'll ever be that close Draco but for some reason I trust you just…just please don't betray that trust I beg you."

Draco took her hand in both of his and nodded solemnly "Thank you and…and I can't tell you how sorry…"his voice broke and he fell silent instead choosing to look at her. Her face that had held so much strength in it that day finally crumpled and contorted painfully and her tears fell through her cracked calm demeanor.

George looked at them Harry and Draco meaningfully before taking Hermione into his arms who was now sobbing in raw sorrow, as if to say come back later, give her time for now.

"She's strong" Draco said outside the room. "My idiot father could learn a thing or two from her" he said feeling the guilt lessen somewhat only to allow the sadness to take over instead.

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Harry was sitting on the metal chair in Umbridge's room tightly bound by his restraints wondering how much information he could wean off her today. Sitting there looking innocent and angry he waited for her to start her abuse when she surprised him by plunking down a pensive in front of him.

"Have you no shame?" she asked him softly "a hundred and twenty seven people died and you still want to protect him. Why don't you want to the Dark lord defeated?" She asked him feigning sadness in her voice while slowly touching his face with her wand.

Harry almost laughed out aloud at the acting; the woman was dirty scum and she though he'd help her? What a joke!

Pulling out photographs from the folds of her robes she place them one after another on his lap, each one revealing burnt people whose face were completely unrecognizable, their limbs torn from their bodies and blood, large quantities of blood painting the walls.

"Wha…what is it?" Harry said feeling unnerved "Why are you…?"

"Victims from the explosion Potter" she said coldly "Victims whom you are now betraying with your lies" she hissed boxing him on his ears.

Pulling the chair up to the table along with Harry in it she held the back of his head firmly and said "Watch" before plunging his head into the still waters of the pensive in front of him.

Harry suddenly saw himself sitting in a train next to a young boy who was busy fiddling around with his mum's phone and then looked around to see the other passengers sitting around him silently, another mundane day in their peaceful lives when the an explosion suddenly tore their world open and Harry saw total annihilation.

Voices became hard to hear and his vision blurred through his tears and smoke. The boy beside him was screaming over his mother's lifeless body begging her to wake up.

Looking around he saw stretchers carrying people go quickly past him as he tried not to gag over the burnt smell of flesh when he saw Hermione's dad being carried past him. They had fitted his mouth to an AMBU bag and were desperately trying to pump air into him when Harry saw him take his last his breath and die before his very eyes. The poor man bore third degree burns and lacerations that had completely marred his face.

Trying not to step over body parts Harry tried to make a dash for the exit when the dream faded and he found himself back in Umbridge's office.

"Now will you tell me?"

Harry found himself trembling and closed his eyes tight to block out the hateful woman's voice out while trying to blank his own mind.

"It was the memory we'd extracted from the little boy" she said sounding triumphant "he died two hours after he had been rescued; his lungs had been scorched by the flames you see."

"Stop" Harry begged as she gleefully threw photo after photo after him.

"Want to see Hermione's mother?"

"No!" Harry shouted feeling tears pricking at the back of his eyes.

"Then tell me" Umbridge screamed and said 'Legilimens.'

Harry still reeling from the shock desperately held up his barriers with valiant effort when he felt hate rise up in him and instead of letting her in he forced him-self past her barriers and finally entered her mind.

Oooooooooooooo

Draco was walking up to the library to get some reading done when he suddenly had a premonition of being attacked! Without turning around he jumped to the side and sure enough a second later a spell whizzed past his head before hitting the wall in front of him him.

"You can't outrun us all" Smith's voice came from behind him in a singsong voice as he dashed towards a secluded corridor.

"Come out Malfoy you need to be punished for your father" the puny boy said as he chased him while being followed by two others.

Running into a dead end Draco turned around to face his attackers and smiled evilly "You sure you want to do this Smith?" he asked "I was only trying to help you, you know? If we fight you won't survive" he said and whispered a spell freezing so that the ground below his assailants turned to ice.

Zacharias lifted his wand and was about to launch an attack when Draco seeing his spell before it happened rolled out of the way catching them off guard and stunning one of the lackeys behind him. Rushing at him to avenge his friend the other boy slipped on the ice and fell to floor cracking his head on the ground and falling unconscious.

"And now it's just me and you" Draco smirked at the lone boy while pushing his magic to his fingertips and lifting the boy by his collar to hold him up against the wall.

"What are you doing?" Zacharias squeaked looking very afraid "Are you going to kill me like your father did?"

Draco dropped him to the floor and wiped his hands on his robes feeling disgusted and was about to walk away from the scum when Zacharias said "Your father will find out about Harry and you, you know?"

"And I suppose you'll be the one to tell him" Draco said sounding bored.

"Of course not, I'm not an idiot" Smith sputtered angrily.

"Could have fooled me" mumbled Draco turning away again.

"I told Umbridge." The shout turning Draco's blood cold.

"You did what?"

"I told Professor Umbridge about you two a few months ago. She was going around asking us a lot of questions about Harry so I told her" he said "She promised me that I'd pass the owls with an outstanding in DADA if I told her."

"Harry and I are just friends" Draco whispered, trying to maintain the expression of being mildly interested "just friends."

"I saw you two kissing in the corridor" Zacharias said looking revolted by him "No one was around except me and I had the misfortune of seeing it" he groaned.

"So Umbridge knew about Harry and me all this time?" Draco said speaking to himself "If she knew then…Harry…" his face paled and he started running towards her office completely forgetting about Smith. He was a Malfoy all said and done so he understood how blackmail worked very well.

Almost reaching her room he saw Harry stagger towards him with a sort of blank expression on his face and felt fear creep into his soul. "Harry?" he called out running to him at full speed when he saw him stop walking abruptly and start to sway suddenly collapsing on to the floor with a dull thud without any warning!

ooooooooooooooooooo


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

**Thank you for appreciating the story so far:** **Kotori-Sensei, Dsmith199318, Ank-sunamuhn80, tassleburr, 456snarky, cucumbermonster4, DarkNeko4000, Nellie4911, PixaPickle, PuzzledNikki, Qtelatino 1, sev-han, Shaken250, tesetilaro, thetownguy, Kira the DaySlayer, Twinheart, LadySarah14, variante, Platinum Hearts, KDLizzy's Gay Cookies, Aanchal, James237, Dominygringa, stephanialilly, elfdemon05, Marinelife37, TrishG, Meitantei-k, Dinna22, Panthers of darkness16,**

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**CHAPTER 11**

Standing near the entrance of the hospital ward while leaning against the doorframe Draco watched silently as Darren and Ginny crowded a rather harassed looking Madame Pomphrey inundating her with a myriad of questions on Harry's status while he lay prone and unmoving not two feet away from them.

Luckily the two of them hadn't been there when he and the school healer had witnessed the blood that had trickled out of the lightening scar on his forehead about fifteen minutes ago without any sign of an external injury or by now they would have completely freaked out.

Harry suddenly moaned while still in his state of unconsciousness and furrowed his eyebrows as if he were in pain immediately drawing the attention his brother who was at his side in a heartbeat petting his hand soothingly as Ginny looked on with a worried frown.

Draco on the other hand just balled his hands into fists and remained standing where he was as this was not the first time it had happened still wishing that he could help him somehow.

After having brought Harry to the infirmary Draco had stayed to help for a few minutes before running off to confront Umbridge who was responsible for this mess but unfortunately for him, by the time he had made it to her room he could find nothing suspicious in it and the woman herself though looking a bit shaken up had politely told him that Harry had been perfectly fine when she'd seen him and that maybe he'd collapsed because he'd neglected eating supper that evening.

Draco suppressing a snort of derision and the urge to trample her smug face did not believe her sickly sweet tone for an instant but decided that Harry needed him more right then, he gave up wanting to question her and had shot her one look of open contempt before walking back to the wards feeling angry at Harry, Smith, his father and the stupid chameleon witch.

Now looking at that beloved face, pale and drawn in Draco decided to give it a few more hours before he came clean about their suspicions about their current DADA teacher hoping that maybe the information would shed light on the current situation and help them come up with a solution to revive him.

Ooooooooooo

Harry opened his eyes with difficulty as his head gave another painful throb which made him grit his teeth to stop the howl that was threatening to come out of his mouth. Drawing his body closer to his chest he felt the cold in the room seep into his very bones freezing him from deep inside.

His entire world it seemed had been plunged into inky darkness lightened only by the silvery glow from the moon outside so that he could just barely make out his surroundings. He could not recognize the room he was in but he wrinkled his nose in disgust as he smelt the rank, pungent stench of urine and feces.

Slowly lifting himself off the hard, cold floor, he stood swaying dizzily for a second before holding on to the wall in front of him for support. Placing a Disillusionment spell on him-self for safety, he cautiously exited the room and found himself standing in a long corridor that he could not recognize!

Trying not to panic he walked forwards slowly so as not to jar his already painful head and stopped abruptly when he saw the moonlight bouncing off a series of metal grill doors lining the walls of the passage. Walking up to the grills he peered curiously through them and saw with confusion a skeletal man lying huddled on a dirty mattress in the corner of the room looking like he'd been like that for a long while now.

Shuddering at the sub-human state of the man Harry looked into other cells and saw the same thing over and over again feeling bile and pity rise up in him at an alarming rate. Trying not to vomit, he moved away from the cells and walked in the center of the corridor while taking deep breaths to keep the fear that was clawing its way out of him in check.

Where the hell was he? What kind of place kept people looking like that? Moving quickly he blindly followed the passage when he felt his mind suddenly being assaulted by overwhelmingly depressing cold thoughts making him shiver with anxiety, when he saw it.

Like shadows, two Dementors bore down on him silently, leaving him rooted to the ground paralyzed. Purely on instinct he softly cried out '_Expecto Patronum'_ and watched dumbfounded as his stag chased away the ghostly figures making him feel better all at once.

"Who's there?" one of the prisoners cried out hoarsely from somewhere beside him, sticking his bony hand out through the bars of his cage clutching at the air in front of him frantically while Harry coming to his senses found his feet and took off from where he was standing running further into the building while trying to suppress the loud voice in his head that was screaming 'Azkaban! I am in freaking Azkaban!'

Suddenly he felt his legs give way as a great wave of power of knocked him over and a shrill cry rent through the stillness of the night "I told you to kill them, you bloody fools! Now one of them has escaped and the Ministry will be coming any minute now to stop us!"

Harry hyperventilating, recognized Voldemort's voice and crawled behind some shadows scraping his knees on the floor feeling thoroughly exposed. Wondering for the nth time what he was doing here and whether this was a very realistic dream or not Harry strained his ears and listened as the Dark lord addressed someone in a deadly voice "Have the wards at least been weakened?"

"Y—yes my Lord, the contact from the Ministry managed to give us our wands last evening but some of the prisoners did not co-operate with us saying that they preferred dying here instead."

"Fools!" Voldemort hissed "I offer them freedom and the ingrates, they reject me? Let them rot here then, the Dementors will be ordered to make their lives even more of a hell!"

Harry peeked from behind the wall and saw Voldemort standing in the center of a circular room surrounded by at least ten of his death eaters with one kneeling on the floor before him. He almost gasped aloud when he saw the silver hair on the man's head and immediately recognizing him as Lucius Malfoy!

So the whole subway episode had acted as a clever ruse to sneak in the Death Eaters into Azkaban so that they could free the prisoners? Worse, they had had a spy in the Ministry with such high level clearance? What the hell was happening?

"M….my Lord" whispered Lucius kissing the hem of his master's robes before letting them go and saying "About your diary, I have completed this task successfully for you so will I be pardoned for the loss of your diary?"

Voldemort snarled in rage and lifted the man of his feet like he was a ragdoll and held him high above the others shaking him violently "You dare ask me for forgiveness when you still have no clue about the extent of your crime? That diary was to be treasured by you and yet you palmed it off to the some girl the moment I disappeared and now you have the audacity to seek forgiveness? Remember this Lucius" Voldemort said, dropping the man from his height callously to floor "You now belong to me completely. Anything I say, you do, no questions asked, and when the time is right, I want your entire family to join me as well and this time they will have no choice in the matter or they will die!"

Harry shuddered, thinking about Draco and felt anger course through his blood. Lucius the coward was making his family pay for his own stupidity and Harry could no longer see any reason to forgive the man.

"Go!" he heard Voldemort cry to his minions "Go and free the prisoners and bring them to me" he said kicking the crumpled heap of a man at his feet when he suddenly raised his hands and shrieked "Wait!"

The death eaters coming to halt stood around him looking bewildered when Voldemort started to sniff the air like an animal "Do you smell that blood?" he asked them softly "Do you smell that righteous anger and hatred? Pure…pure like the phoenix?" he whispered standing still now looking like a hungry hunter.

"How? Why is he here" he asked cryptically to no one in particular looking around wildly. "Rescue the prisoners and find Harry Potter!" He shouted "Use the dementors, they will know where to find him" he said startling his followers before dematerializing from where he was standing in an instant.

Harry was jolted out of his crouching position at hearing his name and stood up abruptly trying to ignore the cramps, taking off running, going back down the corridor from where he'd come from.

How had the Dark Lord sensed him? What did he mean by saying he'd smelt his blood? And how on earth had he disappeared when there were Anti-Disapparating wards everywhere? Really, just how powerful had the man become already?

Crying out 'Point me' to his wand he took off in the direction it was pointing at and realized after sometime that he was running towards the roof. Feeling the cold from the dementors and the persistent footsteps of the death eaters chasing him blindly, Harry ran until he came across a door and blew it open only to be hit by a gust of wind and light drizzle.

Holding out his hands in front of him Harry ran to the edge of the building and peered over its side bravely seeing a steep fall into the turbulent waters below with a sinking heart.

Not knowing what to do, he helplessly called for his dragon as a last resort when he saw a couple of death eaters come bursting out of the door looking around in bewilderment. "The dementors definitely led us up here" Bellatrix said panting heavily looking around everywhere. "Where the hell is the little hellion then?" she bellowed.

Harry keeping silent watched as they came forward feeling trapped as they advanced closer and closer to him keeping their hands stretched out in front of them as they felt the air around them for any sign of him when he heard a loud animalistic roar tear through the sky above them and saw huge glittering blue Dragon come straight at them with its maw wide open hurling a ball of fire straight at the screaming death eaters before blindly clutching Harry in its claws and lifting him off the ground just as his enemies closed in on him.

Wondering when he was finally going to wake from this fantastical dream Harry closed his eyes against the strong wind and fell into a brooding silence not even daring to take a peek at the ground far below him.

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Draco was sitting at the breakfast table trying to swallow his food and not think about Harry still lying unconscious in the wards when his owl dropped the day's Daily Prophet in front of him with a loud '_thwack_'. Picking it up, he glanced at the headlines and nearly toppled over his bowl of porridge in shock.

_**AZKABAN ATTACKED! PRISONERS SET FREE!**_

_**IN A MOST UNPRECEDENTED ATTACK BY THE DEATH EATERS ON AZKABAN ITSELF LAST NIGHT, NEARLY SIXTY OF ITS INMATES MOSTLY FROM THE UNDERGROUND LEVEL OF THE PRISON HAVE MANAGED TO ESCAPE!**_

"_**WE DO **_**NOT**_** KNOW HOW IT HAPPENED YET" RUFUS SCRIMGEOUR SAID "ONLY THAT ONE OF OUR AUROR'S HAD MANAGED TO ESCAPE THE PRISON BEFOREHAND AND WARN US BEFORE EVEN MORE PRISONERS LEFT."**_

_**ON BEING ASKED BY ONE OF OUR REPORTERS IF THE UNDERGROUND LEVELS WERE INDEED HOUSING THE MOST DANGEROUS CRIMINALS, THE CHIEF AUROR NODDED GRIMLY, SETTING FRESH PANIC AMONGST THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM. **_

_**MR. MALFOY, MR. CRABBE AND MR GOYLE WERE ALSO ABSCONDING WITH THE REST OF THE ESCAPEES AFTER HAVING STAYED THERE FOR ABOUT ONLY THREE DAYS! **_

_**IT HAS BEEN RUMORED THAT DEMENTORS ARE NO LONGER UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE MINISTRY SINCE SEVERAL OF THE REMAINING PRISONERS WERE FOUND SOUL-LESS IN THEIR CELLS AFTER THE ATTACK HAD PASSED.**_

"_**THEY ARE BEING WATCHED BY OUR FINEST AURORS NOW" RUFUS SCRIMGEOUR MAINTAINED STAUNCHLY "THEY HAVE SHOWN NO SIGN OF REBELLION SO FAR."**_

"_**HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED IS ALREADY WINNING" ONE CONCERNED CIVILIAN EXCLAIMED "JUST WHAT IS THE MINISTRY DOING TO STOP HIM?"**_

_**CORNELIUS FUDGE….**_

Draco shut his eyes and felt his hands begin to tremble longing even more now for Harry to be there. No way was his father an innocent bystander during the attack on the muggle subway now. His escape had just convicted him further and he had become a fugitive running from the Ministry.

Avoiding the knowing, sympathetic looks from the kids around his table he got up and walked stiffly to the classroom having been forbidden by Pomphrey to go to the infirmary during morning hours, wondering what was going to happen to his family now.

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Harry was dropped to the ground from a low level and stood up looking around him-self at the stunning almost alien land he had been dumped on so unceremoniously by his Dragon. He was surrounded by almost barren land with miles and miles of jagged rocks jutting out of the surface giving it a very lonely and rough ambience.

Walking over to pet Nobert his now savior, Harry was suddenly shown images by the dragon to follow him to a cave not far away from they were. Nodding Harry started to follow the humungous creature on foot feeling strange and disconnected when he suddenly saw a sight before him that he was sure he'd never forget in his life.

Nearly twenty giant Dragons the sizes of a house were gathered around a cave watching him with a intensity that left him feeling uncomfortable. Looking at the magnificent beasts with their stunning armor and frightening demeanors through glazed eyes Harry was suddenly startled when the biggest Hungarian Horntail Dragon he'd ever seen came out from the entrance of the cave bearing the deadliest looking spikes on its spine.

Swallowing convulsively he stared open eyed as the beast approached him locking eyes with him until Harry found himself drowning in the depths of those galaxy's.

"Young Dragon Lord, you have finally seen the land of our origins" the Dragon conveyed through his mind "Welcome to our humble aboard."

Harry nodded and managed a tight smile before tensing up again wondering what the heck was going on!

"You're wondering how this is all happening to you" the Dragon actually sniggered indignifiedly in his mind "this is no dream young master, what you are seeing is the truth. Your soul was called by the blood in Voldemort's veins, the blood that he stole from you for his resurrection. Now you are bonded in ways no one can say how and you destinies will forever be intertwined."

Harry listened to the last line feeling a jolt of memory as he remembered the last lines of his brother's prophecy, it sounded uncannily similar!

"Wh—why am I here with you then?" Harry asked still feeling like he was in a trance.

"Young Nobert brought you here so that you could see your family and also so that we the Dragons could once again swear our allegiance to the long forgotten Dragon Masters. War is upon our world once again young wizard and to fight the man who proclaims himself the greatest Dark Lord ever we will need to join forces if we are to win. The man and his evil must not linger in our world any longer he must be dealt with thoroughly. Now, is not your time yet young Master, you still play in the shadows but the time will come when you must stand in the light."

Harry stared open mouthed at fierce beast and could not fully process what he was saying to him feeling unreal about the whole situation.

"Before you go there is one thing you must know. The one who is named after our kind will face a difficult choice not too far in the future, your job then will be to stand by his side no matter what, as together you are stronger than when you are alone."

Harry dumbly nodded, understanding that they were talking about Draco and at the back of his mind wondered why they had to even tell him that knowing that he'd always stand by him no matter what.

"Return now Harry Potter, return to your home and don't forget…"

Harry felt himself drift off and spiral down into a dark abyss.

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"Draco! Draco!" Ginny ran after him pushing people aside impatiently "Harry's woken up!"

Turning around, Draco looked at her with relief and followed her to infirmary feeling a load fall off his chest.

Draco ran into the room and was disappointed to see Harry surrounded by friends when he'd so badly wanted to touch him and kiss him.

Harry was looking shocked as Darren told him about the escaped convicts and was turning pale on hearing the unfortunate news when he spotted Draco and managed to give him a small but tired smile, simply looking at him, as the other people around him continued talking oblivious to his lack of attention, as if all he could see in that moment was Draco.

Draco swallowed wanting more than ever to walk over and climb into the bed with him when Darren suddenly turned to Harry and in a loud voice said "So what happened to you then? Did you really pass out because you hadn't eaten?" Harry looked at him in puzzlement and then shook his head slowly looking bewildered.

"Harry?"

"I….I can't remember!" Harry whispered looking worriedly around him, once again locking eyes with Draco. "I can't remember anything that happened that evening!"

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	12. Chapter 12

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

**Thank you for appreciating the story so far:** **Kotori-Sensei, Dsmith199318, Ank-sunamuhn80, tassleburr, 456snarky, cucumbermonster4, DarkNeko4000, Nellie4911, PixaPickle, PuzzledNikki, Qtelatino 1, sev-han, Shaken250, tesetilaro, thetownguy, Kira the DaySlayer, Twinheart, LadySarah14, variante, Platinum Hearts, KDLizzy's Gay Cookies, Aanchal, James237, Dominygringa, stephanialilly, elfdemon05, Marinelife37, TrishG, Meitantei-k, Dinna22, Panthers of darkness16, ****Dirty-Nat1989, fbmstar, Cynderet, olciak123, Kali-Anna of Darkness, geetac, yeenee, we-are-all-witnesses, EmberRavenclaw, Qtelatino1, 20eKUraN11,456snarky, Dreamaker401, n0n0pants, Daphne Li, xdarkangelx9585, zindiq, aoifedb, Vladimir Mithrander, Jayn, papurri, Cheza Takehashii, guildam595, Sherl0ked, J'aime Manga, Gemstones, Aile d'Argent, dollydelle, jaded, AlexaSummer, stonegnome1, sweetcherrypie007, Luminescence, kalyn40, himewolf, little prince ryo, Just another crazy radical, the guy doesn't have a clue, 7orion7, . , Rowan Mikaio, 3headedcow666, SorinaElena, Tom-boi01, superraton, TheFira, yayawhynot89, potter-granger-mad, toreyhassen, Selwyn Sentinel,DarkAngelBoi70, onePlotThickens, Girl of Fire, Lily anne latriea, Griffing07, Ruby Silken Sun, Carla Coleman, angeluz21, griffindork93, statman, TishDaniVamp11, LvndrRsThrn, Earthbound Phoenix, speedymd07, DracoPotter-HarryMalfoy, cadman347, CrimsonAsh28, Toshimi Okami, szw5009, moonlitcat, MaryFortuna, Momochuu, Kynnetic,ImperialMoonBeing, PuppyProngs, tdrosebud, kchurchy85, brunehilda, DarkkEagle, LC03, vickib78, AMloverFF, flounder123, kaphey, Lk6lu, Goldpen, Jelen of Moonlight.**

**CHAPTER 12**

"Flick your wrist Nev, don't swing it around so much. The only thing you'd get out of doing that is poking someone's eye out with your wand" Harry said grinning and then grimaced when a he felt his head give a dull aching throb of pain. It had been happening ever since the day he'd left the hospital, making him feel irritable and edgy the entire time.

Looking over Neville's head he spotted Draco who was sparring with Ginny and smiled to himself thinking about the last four days he and Draco had spent in emotional upheaval.

After he'd been released from the infirmary and declared healthy, Draco had immediately lit into him and had given him a sound tongue lashing for not telling him about Umbridge which had left Harry feeling guilty and a tiny bit defensive. He'd done it to save Draco from being mauled by his father after all hadn't he? It was not as if he'd liked lying to him.

After listening to Draco's rant for nearly fifteen minutes in complete silence, he'd just shrugged him off purposely, knowing that it would drive Draco crazy and was about to walk away when Draco caught him by his shoulder and yanked him around, "Do you not have a shred of self-preservation in your body? If you want to run around saving your brother you're free to go and do it, I don't give a fuck but I don't want you to do the same for me. I hate feeling beholden to anyone. Even you." Draco snapped at him digging his nails into Harry's flesh.

His words had stung Harry who automatically tried pushing away his hand which made Draco pull him even closer "If my father finds out about us, I'll deal with it Harry. I don't like it but I'll do it if I have to. That's something I've always been taught since i was a kid. I don't need you fighting my battles for me."

Harry felt anger course through him at being so casually dismissed by someone he'd give his left arm for and had swung back and clipped Draco on the side of his jaw feeling the pain reverberate through his own knuckles.

Reeling back from shock Draco looked at him in confusion but seeing Harry's satisfied look he lost it and lunged at him hitting him in retaliation which started an all-out brawl between them leaving them so much more worse for wear than when they'd started.

"When you stop playing at being a martyr come talk to me" Draco said after they'd worn themselves out and had walked away without a single backward glance.

At first Harry had remained angry and combined with his frequent headaches he'd been very unpleasant for two days straight lashing out at everyone who talked to him. On the third day however after constantly sneaking peeks at Draco in potions class he'd finally admitted to himself that he was missing Draco and hated fighting with him.

Yesterday had been the fourth day when Harry had finally squashed his ego and had dragged Draco off to the empty classroom holding him tightly as Draco struggled to break free. "I'm sorry Dray, I'm really sorry baby. I should have told you everything from the beginning. I know that I would have wanted you to tell me if the situation had been reversed. I just didn't want to add to the guilt you'd already been feeling for your father."

Draco finally settled down in his arms letting Harry hold him "I hated knowing that I'd been the cause for your abuse. I couldn't even look at you in the hospital without wanting to throw up or kill Umbridge and Smith. The two of us have kept so many secrets from the rest of the world already Harry, so now if we start hiding stuff from each other then I'll have no one to trust."

Harry had felt younger and smaller than he'd ever felt in his entire life and so he nuzzled Draco's hair giving and taking comfort from the boy he held in his arms while trying to blink away the suspicious pricking sensation in his back of his eyes.

Draco was right; he had to stop trying to save everyone when they were perfectly capable of saving themselves. He knew that Draco had always been the proud and independent sort of person he'd always admired so he should have expected that his babying him was going to backfire on him big time.

Holding him at arm's length from his body, Harry really looked at Draco in silence for a minute, noting the tiredness in his face, the tiny knowing smile of his beautiful lips, the mussed up white gold hair and finally the defiance and strength that simply radiated from his eyes. Swallowing, he though god, Draco was so beautiful, so important to him that he'd do anything for him.

"Forgive me"? Harry asked him coming to stand closer to Draco.

Draco who had also been assessing Harry nodded and pulled him into his arms kissing him hard, fiercely enjoying his reaction to him as Harry moaned softly pressing himself even closer to Draco hissing with pleasure when their lower abdomens came in contact and he felt a bolt of deep sensuous desire with a tinge of pain shoot through his spine leaving him craving for something he could not put a name to yet.

"Have more faith in me Harry; I want to protect you too. I know that I've been feeling down since father's gone balls-up crazy but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you get hurt for me."

Harry unable to say anything sagged in his arms and nodded, happy that Draco had let it slide and wondering how he was going to bring up the issue of his father being the main protagonist in the Azkaban escapade and how he'd already bargained the lives of his family for his own.

Coming back to the present he saw Neville giving him a strange look before smiling and ending their fight saying "Hey Harry?"

"Yeah Nev?"

"Do you think you could come and um…visit my parents with me during the hols?"

Harry looked at him in surprise knowing how private a person Neville was.

Misinterpreting the look Neville blushed and held his hands out as if in defense and said "Forget it; I know you guys must be busy with Christmas and all..."

Harry smiled at his obvious discomfort and shook his head "Shut up Nev" he reprimanded the boy "and let me make my own decisions. First of all I want to thank you for even asking me and second, yes, duh, of course I'll go. In fact you know what? I think I'll ask mum to come too since she's been wanting to go for a long time as well, what with she and your mum being chums in school and all. Just tell me when you're going though, and we'll plan something okay?"

Neville turned scarlet and nodded "I'll ask gran and floo you the information or something" he said and smiled.

Harry on sitting down turned his thoughts once again to Draco and cringed when he remembered that today during Animagus training he'd planned on finally telling him about his out of body experience and of his father's crime.

000000000000000

"Bloody hell, so your soul's on major stalker mode now, huh?" Draco asked him after listening wide eyed to Harry's almost fantastical tale.

Harry sighed and rubbed his head nodding. He'd finally manned up and told him about what he'd seen including the part about his father and was left feeling a little uneasy when Draco hadn't reacted the way he's expected him to and had instead accepted Lucius's betrayal without any change in his expression taking the news into his stride as if he'd expected it. It was as if he'd started to give up on his father and Harry knew that that was a sad thing for him.

Draco sensing that Harry wanted him to talk more clapped his hands and stood up "Let's start practice then shall we?" he said and moved away from him before sitting down and adopting the posture for meditation.

Trying to bite down his frustration Harry followed suit and closed his eyes trying to concentrate on the image of his animal when he felt pain slice through his head and was assaulted by images of a younger looking Umbridge standing in front of a younger looking Cornelius Fudge holding onto a parchment as he spoke to her while they were in his office alone.

"Fudgy" the woman said in high pitched whiny voice "I did what you asked me to do and killed the witness. You promised me that you'd protect me if I did" she said.

Fudge nodded smiling indulgently at her saying "You did good sweetheart, the man had to be killed, you know that right? If he had revealed any more information, the criminal's link to me would have been traced easily. No one can know from where I'd gotten the campaign funds for the election, it would destroy us. Let them keep thinking it's my family money instead."

Dolores looked at him with adoring eyes and giggled "But what about me now Fudgy-Wudgy, I've been dismissed from the squad, what should I do now?"

"Stay with me of course" Fudge said simply "I will hire you as my personal spy and will pay you double the amount you've been paid, for being an auror."

The images shifted and Harry saw something that he was sure would leave him with nightmares for a long time to come. Fudge and Umbridge now looking as they were in the present, were rolling around in a bed kissing, touching and doing things to each other that left him wanting to pull his eyes out.

"Dolores" Fudge said after they'd settled down "Do you remember my new assistant Percy Weasley?"

Umbridge nodded running a thick, stubby finger down her lover's chest while sipping from wine from a delicate glass that she held in her other hand.

"He's so eager to please that I decided to talk to him about what really happened after the third task in the Triwizard Tournament since Dumbledore that old bastard has been keeping a tight lid on it. I wanted to see if I could extract anything new from him when he told me about Harry Potter's rather miraculous escape from the Dark lord. Apparently no one believes the boy and I'm starting to feel that something about it doesn't feel right too. I want to know how a mere fourteen year old boy bested a God so easily. If we did find out maybe this could become the leverage I might need to…"

The images faded out abruptly and Harry opened his eyes feeling grossed out and shocked at the same time. He hadn't remembered everything that he was sure of but from what he'd seen so far he could divulge the depth of Fudge's corruption and that the Minister of Magic was somehow not the benign, bumbly man he'd led everyone to believe him to be, but a sly, cunning rogue who was trying to use him, Harry, as his shield against someone!

000000000000000

Draco on shutting his eyes felt peace and acceptance steal over him contrary to what he was sure Harry was thinking. It was true that for the last couple of days he'd been beating himself up over his father's mistakes but somehow hearing from Harry about how low Lucius was willing to sink for power and his own safety, he was starting to realize that maybe he could never become as bad as him. He for one would never sacrifice the lives of his loved ones for his own greed.

Coming to this surprising conclusion he'd felt a tiny bit of the weight he'd been carrying lift off his shoulders and felt his mind settle down into a calm state leaving his thoughts to whirl around peacefully, accepting what he was, accepting that he'd never be his father, when he suddenly saw it! When he saw the veil that was blurring his vision for so long finally lift away giving him a clear unrestricted glimpse of his Animagus's true form and he smiled.

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	13. Chapter 13

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

**Thank you for appreciating the story so far:** **Kotori-Sensei, Dsmith199318, Ank-sunamuhn80, tassleburr, 456snarky, cucumbermonster4, DarkNeko4000, Nellie4911, PixaPickle, PuzzledNikki, Qtelatino 1, sev-han, Shaken250, tesetilaro, thetownguy, Kira the DaySlayer, Twinheart, LadySarah14, variante, Platinum Hearts, KDLizzy's Gay Cookies, Aanchal, James237, Dominygringa, stephanialilly, elfdemon05, Marinelife37, TrishG, Meitantei-k, Dinna22, Panthers of darkness16,****Dirty-Nat1989, fbmstar, Cynderet, olciak123, Kali-Anna of Darkness, geetac, yeenee, we-are-all-witnesses, EmberRavenclaw, Qtelatino1, 20eKUraN11,456snarky, Dreamaker401, n0n0pants, Daphne Li, xdarkangelx9585, zindiq, aoifedb, Vladimir Mithrander, Jayn, papurri, Cheza Takehashii, guildam595, Sherl0ked, J'aime Manga, Gemstones, Aile d'Argent, dollydelle, jaded, AlexaSummer, stonegnome1, sweetcherrypie007, Luminescence, kalyn40, himewolf, little prince ryo, Just another crazy radical, the guy doesn't have a clue, 7orion7, . , Rowan Mikaio, 3headedcow666, SorinaElena, Tom-boi01, superraton, TheFira, yayawhynot89, potter-granger-mad, toreyhassen, Selwyn Sentinel,DarkAngelBoi70, onePlotThickens, Girl of Fire, Lily anne latriea, Griffing07, Ruby Silken Sun, Carla Coleman, angeluz21, griffindork93, statman, TishDaniVamp11, LvndrRsThrn, Earthbound Phoenix, speedymd07, DracoPotter-HarryMalfoy, cadman347, CrimsonAsh28, Toshimi Okami, szw5009, moonlitcat, MaryFortuna, Momochuu, Kynnetic,ImperialMoonBeing, PuppyProngs, tdrosebud, kchurchy85, brunehilda, DarkkEagle, LC03, vickib78, AMloverFF, flounder123, kaphey, Lk6lu, Goldpen, Jelen of Moonlight, Vixen Doll.**

**PLEASE REVIEW! **

**ON A DIFFERENT NOTE, THIS CHAPTER HAS IT'S SLIGHTLY MATURE MOMENTS, SO FOR THOSE OF YOU DON'T LIKE 'EM YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

**CHAPTER 13**

Harry was lying down alone in his room in the Black manor trying hard to fall asleep but was feeling too listless. It had been four days since they had come to his godfather's home for the holidays and in the beginning he had enjoyed the change immensely especially after everything he'd been through that year but after a while he'd started missing Draco and felt a tiny bit jealous when he saw the other couples in the house openly flaunting their happiness.

Thinking about him in the dark now, Harry smiled to himself when he remembered the beaming expression he'd seen on his face when he'd told Harry about his animagus's form, he'd looked so proud in that moment!

'A black cat' Harry though, grinning to himself, 'so very appropriate!'

Remembering the frantic kisses he'd been given afterwards by his ecstatic boyfriend, Harry groaned and turned his body over burying his face into the pillow and slamming the world for being so cruel.

Mrs. Malfoy had been waiting for Draco at the station and had promptly whisked him away to France the moment she'd laid eyes on him without even giving Harry the chance to say goodbye. The whole situation was so bloody unfair!

Breathing into his pillow Harry shut his eyes turning his thoughts back on those incredibly soft lips that had kissed his own that evening, moving slowly and deliberately to his jaw, ear and neck leaving him trembling on the hard floor.

Flushing from the memory, Harry felt a warm pressure gradually build up in his lower anatomy making him press his growing erection into the mattress as he tried desperately to find relief moaning softly with suppressed want.

Reaching into his boxers he grasped himself firmly moving his hand over his length slowly thinking about Draco and how he'd pulled his shirt off frantically kissing Harry over his collar bone , nipping him on the side of his neck and chest while pressing closer and closer to him until they'd sort of melded into one entity.

Arching his back and curling his toes against his coming orgasm Harry let out a soft keening cry before giving himself over completely to the pleasure and collapsing back on his bed feeling tired and a wee bit embarrassed but so, so very good!

Wiping him-self clean he lay back on his bed feeling much better and thought that at least tomorrow he'd have something different to do since he and Darren had been given permission by his mum to go visit Neville's parents in Mungo's with her and James in tow of course.

'Well, something's better than nothing' he sighed and finally asleep.

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"Cissy darling, this party is too important for us to miss. Everybody we know will be there and I mean everybody" Lucius implored, trying not to look too closely at the disdainful expression on his wife's face.

"Lucius when you say everyone…you mean the death eaters do you not? If that is the case then Draco and I will certainly be giving this party a miss" Narcissa said firmly her mouth becoming a thin line of disapproval.

Grabbing hold of her hands roughly and startling her Lucius thrust his face into hers looking angry and tired saying "If you don't come Narcissa the Dark Lord will see it as a sign of your disrespect. You were his former follower, a staunch supporter and a willing one at that. As it is, he still asks for you and I keep lying to him about severe illnesses but if you openly turn your back on him now he will simply kill us all."

Narcissa turned pale and turned away from the ugly expression on her husband's face "Will he be there then?"

"No, of course not" Lucius shook his head emphatically, "He has declined our invitation but has encouraged us to mingle so we can increase his numbers."

"What about Draco?" Narcissa said looking defeated "does he have to come as well?"

Lucius's shoulders slumped and he nodded not daring to look at his wife.

"All the death eater's children will be there it was one our Master's requests."

Draco who had been standing partially hidden by a wall behind them closed his eyes and tried not to shout. Did he not have a choice then? Looking at his father he tried to get angry at him but could not sum up the emotion. Seeing him looking like half the man he'd once been Draco only felt sadness and pity, it was quite infuriating really!

"When is the party?" Narcissa asked him glumly, already moving to pack.

"Tonight" Lucius said following her.

"And we cannot change your mind?"

"I love you Cissy. You know that and I don't want you there with me but this is only for your's and Draco's sake."

"Don't Lucius," Narcissa bit out vehemently "Don't say that! I cry everyday over the foolish choices we once made in the past. Finding you in the headlines for killing people and freeing convicts has made me doubt not just your sincerity but your love as well. If we are to do this then don't lie to me, tell me honestly that you still crave power and it is the reason you want us to come."

"No, I don't" Lucius said sadly "I did once and got burned. You don't wear his mark Cissy, so you have no idea how strong the pull is. I fight with everything I have to reject it but in the end I still go. The only way out for me now dearest, is death and I can't die now, not yet anyway, he'll take Draco from you and use him instead."

"No, no" Narcissa said clutching the armrest of a sofa beside her feeling weak and helpless "He can't do that. You and I will not let that happen will we Lucius?"

Lucius held her and said softly "He's already told me that when Draco comes of age he will have to join him."

Narcissa cried in his shoulder and shook her head in denial.

"I agreed" Lucius said "I had no choice at the time."

"But…"

"We'll think of something by then I promise."

Draco leaned against the wall and watched his parents cry over him like it had already happened. If they thought for one minute he would join that monster then they didn't know him. He still didn't know if his father was simply messing with his mother's head or if he was serious about being unwilling but he knew that no matter what he wouldn't just simply give in like like his parent's had. They had made their choices on their own and now he would do the same.

oooooooooooooo

The party was being held in the Parkinson's Manor, it was a grand formal affair with everyone dressed to the nines eating and drinking the best food that money could offer.

It was almost funny to see that most all the people present were from Slytherin! It was no wonder then that everyone hated them! Feeling bored Draco wearing black dress robes stood with his mother checking out the crowd when Pansy in lilac robes came running up to her hugging her happily.

"Mrs. Malfoy it's been such a long time!" She said smiling up at her "You look beautiful!"

"Thank you ma Cherie, I feel the same about you" Narcissa said hiding her inner turmoil behind her hostess's face.

"And how's Draco been at school?" she asked her politely.

"Very bad Mrs. Malfoy!" Pansy said pouting. "All he ever does is hang out with that Potter. There are even rumors about them being lovers all over school!"

"What! What did you say Pansy?" Lucius Malfoy said coming up from behind her shocking them all as a chill ran down Draco's spine.

Pansy turned pale and glanced at Draco looking terribly apologetic and stammeringly said "No—nothing Mr. Malfoy! I was just joking!"

"Oh you know how she is father," Draco drawled out managing to look unperturbed "She's just jealous that I don't spend time with her anymore. She talk's like a woman scorned" he said winking audaciously at her while tightening his hold on his butterbeer glass to fight the rising panic.

Pansy trying valiantly to make up for her error, laughed and wacked him on the shoulder before waving to his parents and walking away leaving him to deal with one angry father.

"I don't like hearing that you spend time with our enemy Draco" Lucius said in a low voice so that others would not hear.

"I'll spend time with whomever I want father" Draco said defiantly knowing that that was not a good thing to say. "Harry is a good friend and a good student so why shouldn't I want to talk to him? But Pansy was exaggerating anyway when she said I spend all my time with him, I don't. I'm busy with prefect duty, studying for my owls and playing quidditch, so much so that I barely have time to eat."

Lucius gave him a curt nod then but Draco knew that the matter was not finished by far so he excused himself and walked over to a balcony taking a deep breath of the cold night's air and pleaded to the dark void 'He must not find out! He must not find out!'

000000000000000

Harry stood over Frank Longbottom's bed feeling sad to see his thin body wasting away with the lack of use. He was staring vacantly at the white wall next to him ignoring Harry's presence just as he had ignored the others who'd already been in to see him, looking hollow and lifeless.

Harry closed his eyes wondering how Neville stood it, how strong he must be! Taking one frail hand into his own Harry bent down and whispered "Your son is a friend of mine in school Mr. Longbottom. He may not be the brightest student in potions class but he'll make one heck of a herbologist someday. I've never seen someone fight so much against all odds, he tries so hard to make you proud of him and he's becoming good, getting better all time at being brave, strong and a reliable friend. You just fight your own demons Mr Lngbottom and come home, Nev will probably wait for you guys till the end."

Harry looked into those dull eyes and tried to look into his mind to see if he could see what the man was seeing. Everything was blurred, jumbled up and somehow frightening in its desolation. About to pull away Frank suddenly tightened his hold over him with a bone crushing grip and wailed softly, so softly that only Harry could hear.

Suddenly Harry saw an image fight its way from the very deepest, darkest corner of the man's mind and reveal a blurry, barely understandable scene. Looking at it Harry gasped at what he saw and quivered with excitement. He was witnessing the final moments Of Frank and Alice's last lucid memories!

"Who else knows?" Bellatrix hissed standing over Frank's crumpled figure on the floor. "No one but I happen to know about the Horcruxes. The Dark Lord only trusts me" she said proudly.

Frank whimpered in pain but didn't open his mouth.

"Your wife's already told me about the unspeakable who had stumbled upon the information and he's already dead now. If you don't tell me who else knows I'll kill you and your family" she threatened him pointing her wand at him saying '_Crucio_.'

Frank didn't even have the strength to cry out and just lay writhing on the floor sweat pouring out of body.

"When my master returns" Bellatrix whispered "He'll kill me if he finds out that others know. No one was supposed to find out."

Frank lay still and she out of frustration raked her nails down her own arm, hard enough to draw blood while kicking him over and over again screaming "Get up! Get up!"

Harry pulled back and looked at the poor man in horror a single tear running down his face; death was not a good enough punishment for that woman. "You should have just told her you brave man" Harry whispered "Maybe she would have killed you out of mercy."

000000000000000

Draco stood in his father's office trembling with anger and shock on seeing him sitting behind his desk that was covered with Draco's 'Wizard Boy' magazines looking disgusted and disappointed with him.

"Explain your-self son" he said simply, rapping his knuckles on his chair impatiently "What do these books mean?"

Draco glared at him saying "How dare you go into my room and go through my stuff!"

"I had to know" Lucius said "I had a feeling that something was not right and I went to look."

"But that's my private stuff!"

"Don't raise you voice against me Draco! I will not have a faggot for a son boy, do I make myself clear? We are Malfoy's and such an anomaly is intolerable! It is your duty to me and to your lineage that you marry a woman and bear a child. Not dally with men!" He spat looking livid with his eyes bulging.

Draco did not argue with him knowing that it was pointless anyway and just stood looking at him silently.

"Is it the Potter boy who put you up to this?"

"What?" Draco asked feeling a tiny bit afraid now "How can anyone put me up to this? This is in my nature!"

"This is not normal, it's unnatural and abnormal! Everything about it is filthy."

Draco bit back a retort about his father's having killed 127 people only a month ago being abnormal and instead dug his nails into his palm to vent his fury.

"If I ever find out that you and the Potter boy do have some sort of relationship I'll kill him do you understand?" Lucius said in a cold voice looking unblinkingly at his son.

Draco tried to remain standing on his suddenly wobbly legs feeling sick to his core and said "He and I are not like that father, I promise."

"I'll watch you from now on Draco, if I hear any more rumors, the Potter boy will die!"

Draco swallowed and fought the tears that were threatening to spill over. His father had just given him an ultimatum that had effectively denied him of the one good thing in his life and he didn't even seem to care, still thinking only about himself and their appearances.

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* * *

Um I know this sounds weird, but I would just like to know if this chapter is too explicit for some of you. I need to guage what most people are comfortable with so I can go ahead make the changes. If it sucks just tell me, I promise to be nice about it. Thank you.


	14. Chapter 14

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

* * *

**For all those who have reviewed the story thank you and sorry. I honestly tried writing the troublesome chapter over and over again but the stupid thing seemed evaded me with a vengence :( Thank you for reading so far and keep reviewing! **

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**CHAPTER 14**

Lord Voldemort stood silently in front of a tall, ornate mirror in the Riddle manor and watched impassively as several dark hooded shadows behind his own reflection writhed on the floor in agony as the Cruciatus curse he'd place on them burned them from inside out with unbearable pain.

"Suffer as I suffer my Death-eaters" he spoke almost gently "For it is only when we are in pain that we find ourselves truly bonded. Endure it for me, your Master and Lord and you will find yourselves rewarded beyond any of your expectations" he assured them, while his bloodshot eyes glowed with an almost maniacal fervor.

Slowly lifting a skeletally thin hand that was stained with blood, he lovingly caressed the contours of his own chest and murmured "He will pay; the boy will pay for my pain" smiling cruelly as he watched with morbid fascination as the red trails of blood painted the surface of his pale, grey tinged skin before turning around abruptly and revealing his back that was riddled with long, evil looking scratches and completely marred by deep-purpling scabs.

"Avada Kedavra Harry Potter" he whispered his voice as high-pitched and cold as the wind carrying such a powerful undercurrent of malice and hatred with it that Harry who'd been sleeping within the safe confines of the Hogwarts castle, thousands of miles away, woke up in a cold sweat and shaking in fear.

0000000

Reeling from the nightmare, he looked around the darkness frantically almost expecting to see a flash of green light and sighed with relief when he realized it only was just another dream.

Blindly reaching for a glowing blue vial on his bedside table that he knew contained a fairly strong Dreamless potion; Harry uncorked the stopper and took a mouthful of the liquid beating himself up for having not done so earlier in the evening.

Such nightmares, headaches and visions had started to occur quite frequently over the holidays and he'd countered them by taking sleeping draughts, fully aware that if his mother had found out about it she'd flay him alive but the temptation of a night of peaceful sleep overcame his trepidations and he'd indulged himself by taking only a little at a time.

Tonight however he should have seen it coming and should have protected himself against the onslaught but had instead bravely and stupidly fought the urge barely managing to fall asleep without its aid.

It was during supper that day, when they'd all just returned to Hogwarts after the vacations that he'd received a note from Draco bearing two ominous words scrawled on it '_Father knows_' that had him feeling a sudden rising panic at the very edge of his consciousness.

He had tried to catch Draco's eye after reading the message but found to his chagrin that he was being studiously ignored by the opposite party. '_If the stupid wanker thinks for one minute that I'm just going to let this slide then he's in for a huge surprise_' Harry thought to himself grimly as he watched the other boy remain completely focused on the food on his plate, blatantly avoiding talking or looking at anyone else around him.

So in the end he'd gone back to his dorm that evening feeling distinctly restless, miserable and hoping desperately that Zacharias would slip up and do something that would warrant a sound punching from him but it was a vain hope and he'd had to contend with punching his pillow instead.

Now lying back down on his mattress and bolstered by the fact that he'd taken the dreamless potion he closed his eyes thinking,

'_Tomorrow…_'

* * *

But tomorrow never came because Draco had successively managed to avoid him like the plague. He'd dropped out of the DA classes and had perfected the art of walking away quickly whenever he'd spot Harry enter a room leaving Harry feeling frustrated at the lack of communication between them.

Feeling tired after nearly two months of playing this cat and mouse game with him, Harry finally acknowledged his defeat and decided that he'd wait patiently for Draco himself to make the next overture, knowing that he'd sit twiddling his thumbs with worry until then.

There had been only one lapse during the entire period of stony silence but that encounter had given Harry hope that all was not lost.

It had occurred after a quidditch match that Slytherin had played against Ravenclaw with Draco basically flying like a possessed man, so intent on catching the snitch that he'd nearly fallen off the broom several times with his daredevil stunts that had left Harry clutching his own broom handle feeling helpless and fearful for his safety.

Angry with Draco's childish antics which he'd recognized as a form of rebellion, Harry stood under the bleachers after the match which Slytherin had won due to his being distracted and tried to reign in his surfacing temper. When he had finally managed to calm down somewhat he headed towards the common shower room to wash away the days grime only to find Draco sitting all alone looking dejected with his head in his hand on one of the towel benches.

Approaching him cautiously, Harry softly called out his name and watched with a hint of amusement as his head snapped up like a jack-in-the-box.

"Harry?" Draco's voice sounded uncertain and worried as he watched Harry walk towards him and kneel before him on the ground.

"Were you trying to get yourself killed today?" Harry asked him expressionlessly managing to convey his feelings by slowly running his hands on Draco's thighs comfortingly.

"No…I was just…I just wanted to win so badly" Draco stuttered, completely thrown off balance.

"Is it that bad for you?" Harry asked him pushing away the stray damp hair from his forehead making Draco lean unconsciously into his touch.

Expecting anger, hurt or accusations, Draco was blown away by the deep understanding in the question and responded by bending his head and covering Harry's mouth with the softest of kisses that Harry deepened with sudden urgency when he pulled Draco against him, curling his hand possessively around his neck and tasting him for the first time after being denied for so long.

Draco caved in to the wonderful sensation for a few minutes before gently pushing Harry away and standing up abruptly. "He'll find out" were the only word he'd offered as an explanation before walking away from Harry while trying to fend off the overwhelming urge to cry.

* * *

"Why is Umbridge looking at you?" Cho asked Harry as he wolfed down his supper, hungry after a double hour of potions with Snape.

"She is?" Harry looked up to find the frog woman staring at him with a nasty smirk on her face and felt surprised. She had been meticulously avoiding him since the last incident in her office, scurrying away in the opposite direction every time she so much as laid eyes on him though Harry for the life of him still could not remember why.

'_I'm starting to feel like a human repellant'_ he thought drily shrugging of her newest past-time of '_Let's stare at Harry Potter_' feeling rather disinclined to join in himself and so it was only later on in the night when he'd finished perusing some books in the library and was headed back to his tower missing Draco's company did he find out why the wench had looked so happy.

Yawning after completing his assignments and wondering what to say to Flitwick during his career counseling the next day he accidently bumped into a short, portly man who turned out to be the Minister of Magic himself and knocked off his signature bowler hat when he'd flung his arms out to steady himself finding to his surprise that he'd been immediately surrounded by three Aurors who'd mistaken him for an attacker.

"Harry Potter!" Cornelius exclaimed with some measure of surprise "Well, well, well! It's a pleasure to finally meet the brother of the boy-who-lived!" While Harry tried his best not to roll his eyes at the pompous idiot wanting to tell him he'd seen him butt naked and then hex him for scarring his precious memories in so rude a manner.

"So tell me Mr. Potter how did a mere fourteen year old, underage wizard manage to escape from the clutches of the Dark Lord himself?"

Harry shook himself when he felt the voice double over in his head and he felt the weirdest sensation of déjà vu. '_Underage wizard…underage wizard…_' were the only words that resounded in his mind and he looked quizzically at the man before him trying to place it in his memories. Why was it so important that he remembered and then looking at the man fidgeting with the bowler hat he'd picked up, the repressed memory came trundling up to the surface of his mind.

"_Dolores" Fudge said sharply to the repentant woman on the other side of their floo connection who appeared to be standing in what Harry recognized as her office in Hogwarts "It's been days since you've last met with the boy and you still haven't given me anything to work with. If I don't have the information soon I'll lose any chance I might have had to regain the upperhand."_

"_But Fudge darling, the boy seems to be an accomplished occlumens and I find myself unable to get past his barriers" she whined pleadingly._

"_Dolores" he snapped losing his patience with the coy witch "The department of Underage Wizardry has just given me the news that on the day that Voldemort returned, the trace between Harry's wand and the Ministry was broken! They think that it was a mere malfunction of sorts but if that isn't a clear sign that something truly happened on that day then I'll eat my own hat!" He scowled heavily at his spy while she nodded dumbly._

"_I'll keep trying Fu…"_

Harry snapped back to the present and felt a smile creep up on his face "Wouldn't you like to know Sir?" he answered cockily to the previously asked question aware that he could be severely reprimanded for his insolence but Cornelius obviously reading something more in his smile backed away hastily.

"Yes…well we're all interested of course…" he mumbled and Harry cut him off saying "Best of luck for the upcoming elections Sir. I hope that this time around you have all that the funding that you will you need for it" he winked and walked away while the men from the Ministry did remarkable impressions of floundering guppy fish as they collectively watched the teenage upstart disappear beyond the corner of the corridor without so much as a by your leave.

* * *

"Darren! Darren!" Colin Crevey came barging into the Gryffindor common room completely out of breath saying "You've been summoned to Dumbledore's office asap! I just heard a rumor that Fudge, the Minister of Magic is here to expel all the students participating in a group that call themselves Dumbledore's army" he said looking worriedly at the leader of said group.

Darren clenched his jaw in anger and red gold sparks shot out of the end of his wand in agreement. "So we had a snitch" he said running a hand through his hair out of frustration.

"No" Colin said shaking his head "It was Dolores Umbridge who'd given him that information and they're saying that she's some sort of Ministry spy!"

"What?" Darren whispered shell-shocked while Hermione stood up looking enraged. "Let's go give him hell Darren" she said sounding uncharacteristically hot-headed for her. "My parents died because he did nothing to warn the muggles nor his own people for that matter of Voldemort's return" and several people gasped at the use of the name "oh stuff it!" She responded irritably "and now the slimy git wants to expel us for trying to protect ourselves? Codswallop! We've done nothing wrong and students having extracurricular clubs at school is not against the rules, believe me I've checked a hundred times over."

Darren smiled at bushy haired spit fire saying "Calm down Mione, I'll go see what he has to say and trust me when I say that I won't let him do anything to us alright?"

Breathing heavily Hermione gave him a curt nod and let George pull her up against his chest to calm her down. "Make him understand Darren" she said and the pain that flashed in her eyes gave Darren all the courage he needed to step up to the Minister himself.

* * *

"So your saying that the 'Dumbledore's Army' was a name born out of a joke is it?" Fudge said looking disbelievingly at Darren who tried not to look at his Headmaster for fear of seeing disapproval.

"Please Minister" Darren said exasperated at the man "there is no way that Professor Dumbledore would amass an army of children to fight against the greatest Dark lord in history! That's ludicrous!"

"But I've heard from other students that the group was forming a mass rebellion against the Ministry" Dolores said looking disappointed with Darren like he'd personally harmed her or something.

"What do you have to say to that Mr. Potter" Fudge asked him gloatingly.

"That I would like to meet these unnamed students Minister" Darren said smoothly watching the man's lids flicker with hesitancy before Umbridge cut in saying "But they're afraid of you Mr. Potter and came to me seeking protection."

Albus Dumbledore listening to the absolute drivel in silence finally stood up from behind his table and engulfed the room with his towering height and crackling magical aura making Fudge cower in fear.

"Cornelius, I can see that you have come here determined to see this happen to the very end and that you are purposely failing to the accept the blatant truth in front of you because you see me as a threat to your position but I..."

"I am not alone in this Dumbledore" he stuttered flushing at the accusation and hastily pulling out a parchment from within his robes flourishing it in front of the headmaster who glanced disinterestedly at it. "It's the signatures of all twelve Wizengamot members giving their approval for instant dismissal of all students involved with the group so that their own children do not get influenced by them."

"What will prevent this from happening" Dumbledore asked him bluntly knowing that in the end the man had an ulterior motive.

Rolling up the parchment and looking cunningly at the older man Fudge said "There will be a meeting held in the Ministry two months from now, after the children's owls have been held of course and that meeting will be attended by every single department within the Ministry where we plan to sit down and have a discussion on how to handle the civilians through these troubled times. What I want Albus, is a small but admittedly significant request" he was positively beaming now "I want Darren and perhaps a few of the other members of this 'Dumbledore's Army' to attend the meeting and actively participate in it."

"So in other words, you wish that the wizarding world sees the Chosen One working under your banner of leadership?"

"Yes" Fudge said simply but watched with glee as Darren and his professor exchanged worried glances.

"You will have your answer by the next week if that is alright with you Minister. This matter has to be discussed with the other children and their parents as well" Dumbledore said gravely "Surely you will remain patient until then?"

"Of course Dumbledore, I'm a reasonable man after all" Fudge said with a smug smile feeling elated that he'd just won a small victory with the great man who'd never acknowledged his status in the slightest.

After the Minister and his bodyguards had left the room Dumbledore smiled at the tensed youngling in his office kindly saying "Go back to your tower Mr. Potter and do not worry about the consequences for now. The Minister knows that he cannot get more out of you and though his request is something you would have never agreed to on your own it is not that unreasonable thankfully. I'm proud of you my boy, for your unrelenting will to stand up against a man who has wished you dead for so long and as for using my name, that is something I would have given to you freely if you had but asked, and no, I am not in the least bit angry about it."

Darren visibly relaxed and thanking the Professor he walked out of the room thinking that no matter what, in the end he was protected by one of the most powerful wizards in the world and that he was profoundly grateful for that knowledge.

* * *

Draco heard the persistent tapping of the owl against his window and let the infuriating creature into his room with a sigh. Giving it a couple of owl treats, he unfurled the missive knowing fully well what was written inside it as it had been sent to him on a regular basis serving as a constant reminder of sorts.

_**Dear Son,**_

_**I take it that all is well with you and that you have been behaving yourself since our last conversation? Remember that it is only in your best interest that I have imposed these rules on but I fully expect that you follow through with them. I will not be more disappointed in you than I already am and I hope that you come to see the error in your ways soon.**_

_**Yours Sincerely,**_

_**Lucius Malfoy.**_

Draco crumpled the note dejectedly and flung it forcefully into the furnace while pacing the length of his room morosely.

Turning to his only source of comfort, he sat cross-legged on the floor with a tiny huff and quickly conjured up the image of the now familiar glossy, black cat in his mind that was his animagus's form and resumed their ongoing constant battle of wills as he tried to take over its consciousness and become one with itself.

'_Almost there_' he thought, hating himself for his self-imposed punishment especially after that day in the shower room with Harry that had made his efforts seem foolish at best.

'_Little more and you'll be mine_' he told the cat determinedly and it purred defiantly taking an angry swipe at him with its sharp claws.


	15. Chapter 15

**DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.**

**CHAPTER 15**

**For all those who haven't yet given up on the story, I can't thank you enough!**

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The members of the DA had been informed of Fudge's singular condition by a rather cautious Darren Potter and were then graciously provided with a week to make their own, individual decisions as to whether attending the Ministry's function was for the good or not.

Harry knew enough to know that Fudge was not the simpleton he once thought the man to be. He knew for certain that there would definitely be more to the story than had already been revealed. After arguing with himself, he finally came to the conclusion that dissuading Darren from this idiotic venture should be the priority and putting their friends first, was a no brainer! For that, he was even ready to come clean about his discoveries of their DADA professor.

But in the end after having confronted his brother on the issue, it was he who was ultimately left reeling. Dumbledore it seemed had known about Umbridge's past the entire time but had remained passive about it because he was a firm practitioner of the dictum _keep your enemies closer. _

"Fudge would have found another replacement if she had been dismissed" Darren shrugged while Harry tried hard to squelch the memories of his many painful encounters with the witch that Dumbledore knew nothing about or was that also something that the controlling headmaster had chosen to kept hidden from his twin?

"If you're afraid and you choose not to come with us to the Ministry, I will understand Harry" Darren's tone was gentle if not a little disappointed and though it irked Harry's sensibilities, he knew that even this small kindness, was a part his brother's love for him.

Dumbledore had chosen his sacrifice with aplomb. Darren was a hero within every inch of his fifteen year old life and even if the stupid twat chose to fight this battle alone without using others as his crutch, Harry the even bigger fool decided that no matter what, he would be there to protect him from himself.

And so, exactly one week later the DA made a unanimous decision to partake in Fudge's highly publicized event.

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Draco was sitting opposite Blaise in the empty Slytherin common room and was listening with rapt attention to his monologue as he updated him on the DA's latest stories and inadvertently Harry, whom he knew must have been so torn up over the situation.

'_But he'll follow Darren to the very ends of the earth if needs be_' Draco thought in frustration as Blaise returned his attention back on the Quidditch magazine he'd been engrossed in before Draco had started badgering him for information.

It was almost laughable how he Draco, who had been so confident in the beginning, that time would make him forget, that being so young, he would move on after a while and had even tried his hand at flirting with some of the girls in his house but had ended up feeling an emptiness that driven him to search out Harry's face from amidst the crowds or had made him itch for one of their conversations, their total ease with one another, his intelligence and strength and most of all, he missed their closeness, the touching and the all-consuming kisses that they'd shared in secret.

It was depressing to dwell on how close they'd been to taking their relationship to the next step. To crossing that final line that would have cemented their status as lovers and not mere friends but in the end, it had been ruined, demeaned by his own extremely demanding father.

The silence that he and Zabini had descended into was suddenly shattered when they found themselves being ambushed by several members of their house.

Looking at them with a practiced air of nonchalance Draco leaned against the backrest of his armchair, so that his body became a single, fluid line making him seem relaxed and he stared unflinchingly into Millicent Bulstrode's heavy set features with a raised questioning eyebrow.

"The rest of us have decided that you and Blaise have not yet shown us your loyalty and support towards your house and that the two of you have been spending way too much time with the people from other houses."

"Get to the point Bulstrode!" Draco snapped impatiently "Tell us what you really want to say."

"Yeah tell us" Blaise nodded with equal complacence though Draco noticed the his fists were tightly clenched as the only visible sign of his discomfort. "Tell us who made you God and why you get to lord over us?"

"Times have been changing" Theodore Nott who was standing beside her snarled "Or have you not noticed? If we don't start sticking up for each other now, the filth from the other houses will have had us all murdered in our sleep."

"That's A bit over the top don't you think?" Draco asked him mildly when his face darkened with anger.

"The chosen one's already amassed an army from what the rumors are saying while we've been sitting prettily on our arses doing absolutely nothing. The question you have to ask yourselves is this, are you two willing to join our side or will you become traitors?"

"And whose side are you on, Theo?" Blaise gritted his teeth.

"The side that all good Slytherin's have always been on" Theodore retorted easily. "The one, which the bloody Griffindorks aren't in of course!"

"And what if we opt for more neutral grounds?" Draco asked him slowly as if testing the waters but was immediately rebuked the others loud, raucous laughter.

"We always stand by family Draco" It was Millicent who spoke this time. "And my father's been telling me how everyone's been gossiping about how weak the heir of Malfoy is. How, Draco Lucius Malfoy is nothing but an embarrassment to his father."

'_Bitch!_' Draco was seething with an anger he realized suddenly was long overdue. An anger that was directed at a cruel world for making fifteen years olds' choose sides in such a selfish war but he knew that if he and Blaise wanted to live they'd have to play along so that's what he did.

"I am my father's son" Draco kept his voice low but he backed his words with all the power that he wielded and watched with satisfaction as some of them actually took a step back in fear. "I do not have to prove myself to you or anyone one else but if it would make you shut up then so be it. Tell us how to make you believe."

"A test, then?" And this time Draco closed his eyes in pain when he recognized Pansy's voice. No matter how irritating she was, this was not the fate he would have chosen for her.

"Fine" Draco sought out her hunched, lone figure and looked to Blaise to find him nodding in tandem with his approval.

"Then come with us" Theodore walked towards the entrance of their tower and headed outside with the others following like blind sheep.

"What if this backfires on us Malfoy?" Blaise looked worriedly at him "What if they make us do something that we can't even _pretend_ to do?"

"I dunno Blaise" Draco said tiredly "But if we don't do this, we'll be living miserable lives in Hogwarts for the next two years."

"Damn and blast!" Blaise stood up beside him "And here I've been thinking that the morons wouldn't have noticed us, I mean they've got Crabbe and Goyle on their side haven't they? At least now I have something to write home to that my ma will actually be proud of!"

"And so will father" Draco groaned and trudged after his overzealous housemates morosely.

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"What the hell is this?" Draco stood enraged as he watched the ugly scenario unfold before his eyes.

Two young, defenseless Hufflepuff boys had been surrounded by the sneering group of Slytherins and were shaking from the cruel taunts and jeers that were being thrown at them mercilessly.

"Go on" Theodore pushed Draco and Zabini to the front of the group "Show us what you've got. Show them the power that they all fear so much" he said raising his own wand at the frightened first years and threw a stinging hex at one of them.

Draco felt hot bile rise up at the back of his throat and he was instantly thrown back to his and Harry's days of being bullied during their time in the Beldane Academy. Now seeing the many bruises that marred the bodies of the two victims in front him, he felt his momentary feelings of helplessness disappear and his control broke.

No one had witnessed Draco in combat before. No one later on, would have been able to say exactly how quickly he had moved or how instantly Theodore had found himself lying on the ground because it was instantaneous. But the revulsion and pity that had been so evident in Draco cold eyes were burned into their minds for all eternity and at that moment no one had had the courage to stop him from walking away with Blaise in tow.

Two or three members from the gang separated themselves from the group as well and followed Draco back to their dorms in complete silence but when they'd reached its entrance, Adrian Pucey a boy whom Draco recognized from quidditch spoke up.

"We will stand by you" he said softly and before Draco could protest he continued by saying that they'd been forced to join as well. That they'd been threatened by the likes of Nott and Bulstrode as well and that they had caved only because they had thought themselves alone.

"Slytherin being synonymous with evil is every fool's greatest misconception" Adrian looked down at the floor in sorrow. "Just because we are not frightened by power or that we use our brains and cunning to survive doesn't mean that we're all destined to go around pillaging towns and killing people. Now that I find that there are more people who agree with me, I think I can safely say no. Not, that I'm going to take sides but like you said 'staying neutral' sounds good."

He looked at Draco as one would at something akin to awe and Draco suddenly felt the most disturbing feeling that he'd just gotten himself saddled with a bunch of followers of his own!

"Always knew that you were a better man than Lucius" Blaise said quietly from beside him. "This isn't going to be easy and we might even cave in later on, but for now you did the right thing."

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Draco feeling dirty and sullied in the aftermath of his and Nott's altercation wanted to find something simple and happy to get away from all of it so that evening he sat at the Slytherin table during supper ignoring all the glaring and pointing from his housemates and kept a surreptitious watch on Harry instead who was sitting with Luna at the Ravenclaw table and smiling while solving one the many idiotic puzzles in the Quibbler.

He was shocked to find that even though Harry looked cheerful, he was very obviously tired. His normally bright eyes were sunken in, with dark circles beneath them and he looked thinner somehow or more…burdened.

Wanting to know why he looked like a goddamn zombie, Draco sent him a note imperceptibly, bearing the words_ 'You okay?'_ and watched closely to see his reaction.

Harry looked down at the note with a shocked expression that was rapidly replaced by one of anger and he deliberately crushed it so that the one who'd sent it to him in the first place would recognize his actions for they were _'Stop playing games!'_

Before Draco could do anything else, Harry stormed out of the Great Hall and disappeared down the corridor which lead to his tower, leaving behind a very miserable Draco.

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Three bloody months without any signs of reconciliation and the stupid prat thought that he could send him one tiny note to coax answers out him?

In all fairness Draco had had no clue that Harry was on a slow, down spiral into depression and that this new gesture of his had hurt him more than even he had cared to understand.

Darren's blind faith in Dumbledore, more disgusting memories of Dolores Umbridge plaguing his mind at all inopportune moments and worst of all, nightmares, of people including tiny children, screaming for help, accompanied by visions of him running though endlessly long, black corridors and repelling snippets of Voldemort's dark, revolting feelings was getting to be much for him and had started to slowly chip away at all his defenses.

It was true that he really needed Draco to be with him right then, but not like this. Not so half-heartedly with no promises of the future at all. The separation was even more painful than he had imagined it possible and in honor of that pain, tonight he'd be forced to down another vial of the sleeping draught again.

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"_It is almost ready my Lord" his spy from the Ministry stood triumphantly in front of Lord Voldemort. "The stage has already been set and the Potter boys will soon be within your grasp!"_

"_Finally" Voldemort stood up scratching his arms irritably. "Soon I will have the boy's blood within my reach once again and this dreadful pain will be completely erased."_

_Harry's blood had started to reject his body for a while now and even though it had not caused him more than a few symptoms of brief pangs of pain or terrible itchiness he strove for his new body's perfection and so this time around, he'd make sure that things went right for him and were not marred by any other slip ups._

_Looking down at the portly figure of the Minister of Magic himself, who'd come willingly to his side clamoring for more power like a spoiled child would, he felt absolutely wonderful. With a man of Fudge's position seeking his attention and approval, what could possible go wrong!_

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End file.
